Coffee Jelly With Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

Coffee Jelly With Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

Topped with dollops of freshly whipped salted caramel cream, this soft Japanese coffee jelly makes the perfect post-dinner pick-me-up — and is essentially a sweetened espresso in jiggly form. For some contrast to the jellied and creamy textures, the dessert is topped with a sprinkle of crunchy flaky salt as well as cacao nibs. It’s a great dessert to prepare in advance and assemble in front of your guests. For some extra zhuzh, you can douse the cubed coffee jelly in flavored liqueurs, like coffee, orange or chocolate – and you’ll get bonus points for using dainty little coupe glasses!

Yield: 8 servings

2 (¼-ounce) packets unflavored powdered gelatin (4 teaspoons/14 grams total)

1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ tablespoons instant espresso powder

1 ½ cups/360 grams heavy cream

¼ teaspoon salt

Flaky salt, for serving 

Cacao nibs (optional), for serving

Add 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water to a large measuring cup. Mix in the gelatin.

To a small saucepan over medium heat, add 2 ¼ cups water, ½ cup of the sugar and the vanilla, and bring to a boil, then continue to boil until the sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Add the espresso powder and stir until dissolved. Pour the boiling mixture over the softened gelatin and whisk until the gelatin has dissolved. Pour the mixture into a heatproof container, cover with a lid and chill in the fridge until solidified, at least 8 hours.

In a microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl, heat 1 cup of the cream in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until lukewarm.

To a small saucepan over medium heat, add the remaining ½ cup sugar and the salt. Cook, without stirring, for 5 minutes, tilting the pan occasionally to shift the mixture around until most of the sugar has melted and the color has deepened to a dark amber.

Slowly stream in the lukewarm cream while constantly whisking. Remove from heat once incorporated. Mix in the remaining ½ cup cream and chill in the fridge until cold, at least 2 hours. (If the mixture seizes and firms up when adding the cream, simply return it to low heat and whisk until combined and creamy before chilling.)

Before serving, remove the solidified coffee jelly from the fridge and place it on a cutting board. Slice into small cubes. Return the cubes to their container. (It’s fine if some of the cubes lose their shape.)

Add the salted caramel whipping cream to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip to medium peaks, about 3 minutes.

Divide the coffee jelly among 8 small (6-ounce) glasses, like coupes or martini glasses. Dollop the salted caramel whipped cream onto each serving, spreading it over about half the jelly to the edge of the glass. Sprinkle with flaky salt and cacao nibs (if using) and serve cold.

TIP: my dad loved a version of this--we just called it "coffee jello" my mom made it for him all the time and he carried copies of the recipe with him when he traveled so he could share it with restaurants he ate at and encourage them to serve it

Such a hit at my Friendsgiving tonight!! I had all the ingredients besides the cocoa nibs on hand. The jello and cream came together much faster than I anticipated. I used Knox gelatin and the jello was pleasantly soft but sliceable. I plan on making the cream again as a cake filling, that was terrific!! I added a splash of Kahlua in each glass and topped with 3 coffe beans instead of cocoa, like an espresso martini. Really good!!

Such a delicious recipe. We made it with actual, high-quality specialty Colombian coffee (ground for espresso but prepared in v60) replacing the 2.5 cups of water and the instant espresso. Next time we will remove most of the sugar in the gelatin. The gelatin was delicious but it can do without the sugar and let the cream do the heavy-lifting in that regard. I agree that a very subtle hint of cardamom in the gelatin has a lot of potential. Eating this with flakes on top was SO GOOD. Will definitely prepare this recipe many more times!

unexpected hit! halved the sugar in the jello. would double the espresso powder next time, as the coffee flavor was a little weak. cream delish. came together as a light, i want seconds kind of dessert after the heavy thanksgiving dinner.

Such a fun dessert! We replaced the espresso powder and water with regular brewed coffee. Based on the comments about the coffee flavor not being strong enough, we doubled amount of coffee that we would usually use to make coffee for that amount of water, but it still wasn’t as strong as we might have liked. Next time, we would use even more coffee (in case it isn’t obvious, we like strong coffee), but it all depends on your preference. Overall, delicious!