I am not good at desserts that is why I rarely attempt to do any. I’m good at eating them though! *wink* Since I started blogging two years ago, I’ve only tried it once and vowed never again!

Last week, the culinary faux pas I thought it was, turned out to be an interesting treat that everyone simply loved!

In that same old food magazine where I lifted my Baked Adobo Rice a la Paella recipe from was a familiar dessert that made raves during the ‘70s. The photo in that magazine brought back fond childhood memories of how I, along with my sister, would be asked by our mother to help her out in the kitchen when she would prepare this particular dessert for her (then popular) Tupperware parties, using of course, Tupperware plastic moulds, no less! And then later on, along with kids of the other mothers in the party, we’d be all be excited in dissecting and gobbling up this colourful, chewy yet soft creation called Cathedral Windows, so called because the colourful cubed gelatins on a white creamy background resembled stained glass window panels found in cathedrals.

The recipe in the magazine called for the use of colourful flavoured gelatin powder. I love gelatin desserts but I am scared of gelatin powder! I have in the past failed all attempts in coming up with decent and edible ‘instant’ gelatin desserts out of gelatin powder. I guess I was so used to the traditional gulaman (agar-agar) bar that my mother used way back then.

Faced with the challenge of having only powdered gelatin in the pantry, I decided to have a go at it. To avoid previous disasters I’ve experienced in the past with gelatin powder, I tasked YayaVina to prepare the coloured gelatins way in advance for it to chill overnight and slice them into small cubes the following morning.

After putting the Adobo Rice into the oven to cook, I went on with the final preparations for the dessert. Since I didn’t have Tupperware moulds (tee hee!), I had several small party-sized glass bowls and a big one which I intended for the centerpiece.

First off was the clear gelatin powder. Following recipe instructions in the magazine and comparing it with packet instructions, I dissolved the powder in cold water. The mixture started to thicken in no time! Panic! Then I realized I have not boiled water for the next step! I shrieked in horror! LOL! YayaIchu came to the rescue by immediately boiling warm water from the dispenser. By then, the powder has already gelled into a coagulated mass of opaque paste-like consistency. I knew I was doomed, again! I was mumbling, obviously rattled and disappointed. LOL!

I knew it wasn’t going to work but still, I tried to whisk the coagulated gelatin powder into the boiled water and sugar mixture. It got worse! LOL! Since the yayas have not done this dessert before, they didn’t know what to do! Ayayay!

Adding to my disappointment was finding out that we’ve already run out of the clear gelatin powder in the pantry. Luckily, there were two large packets of almond flavoured gelatin reserved for Benny’s favourite midnight dessert. A sigh of relief! YayaVina, after dissolving the powder in warm water poured it into the cream that was going to bind together all the pre-made cubed coloured gelatins. We carefully mixed them together, transferred them to the waiting moulds and placed in the refrigerator to set and chill.

Since we finished preparing our version of “Cathedral Windows” quite late, I decided not to serve the dessert for lunch and reserved it for dinner instead. When we finally un-moulded the gelatin, I almost fainted! LOL! The whole thing just flattened out on the plate! My ‘cathedral windows’ collapsed on me!

It was the most disastrous experiences in the kitchen I have had so far. The Yayas in the kitchen were as horrified and didn’t know what to say. LOL! In disbelief, I retreated to my room and sulked while trying to figure out where I went wrong. Then it hit me! It was the cream. I tweaked the recipe by using more cream than what was required and that was the result.

When it was finally served (above photo in the big glass bowl mould), everyone asked me what it was. And to that question I replied: ‘gelatin pudding.’ Tee hee! In a few minutes, the bowl was empty! The white creamy gelatin that was supposed to be solid and chewy (first photo in this post) turned into a custard-like consistency but filled with the wonderful almond flavour which gave the dessert its distinctly delicious taste.

Now, I am being asked to recreate the ‘pudding,’ again . . . :-)

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