{"id":50422,"date":"2020-03-10T17:01:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T17:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/a-stoners-guide-to-trippy-jiggly-jelly-cake-art\/"},"modified":"2020-03-10T17:01:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T17:01:03","slug":"a-stoners-guide-to-trippy-jiggly-jelly-cake-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/culture\/a-stoners-guide-to-trippy-jiggly-jelly-cake-art\/","title":{"rendered":"A Stoner\u2019s Guide to Trippy, Jiggly Jelly Cake Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above, <\/em>a jelly cake by @eatnunchi<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The absurdist video for Justin Bieber\u2019s \u201cYummy\u201d is set at a party featuring a spread of \u201880s-inspired dishes, including cakes made of gelatin: two are translucent and filled with peas<\/u><\/a>, there\u2019s a funky canary-yellow one, and another that\u2019s creamy magenta. They were made by the food stylists Emily Marshall-Garrett<\/u><\/a> and Maya Bookbinder<\/u><\/a>, two of the many food designers currently getting their hands sticky with molded jelly cakes for music videos, fashion shoots, and accessories advertisements alike. <\/p>\n

Gelatin \u2014 and aspic \u2014 has a fittingly funny food history. It burgeoned as a US cooking trend in the 1950s<\/u><\/a> and didn\u2019t really go away until after the \u201880s; whole meals<\/u><\/a> were encased in jelly in almost surrealist, alien-like spreads that practically screamed \u201cretro-future.\u201d It\u2019s not exactly appetizing<\/em> to see flesh-colored sausages suspended in wobbly, vibrant matter, but it\u2019s certainly fascinating in a \u201cWhat were they thinking?\u201d sorta way.<\/p>\n

Jelly cakes began experiencing a renaissance of sorts around 2014, when Japan\u2019s Kinseiken Seika Company created the raindrop cake<\/u><\/a> (composed of water and agar-agar, a Japanese jelly made from red algae), and it subsequently went viral<\/u><\/a>. Now, not only are Japanese sweets super trendy<\/u><\/a> across social media (souffle pancakes!!), but the raindrop cake\u2019s virality seems to have prompted an obsession with jelly art. A Facebook group called \u201cShow Me Your Aspics,\u201d<\/u><\/a> created in 2016, now has 37,000 members, and there are now countless Instagram accounts showcasing imaginative food sculptures that bounce. <\/p>\n

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Above, a jelly cake by <\/em>Sharona Franklin<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

It makes total sense. The appeal is partially due to the uncanny aesthetics of jelly cakes; these creations may sound like a fifth grade science experiment, but they\u2019re edible and often approached like art objects. And jelly cakes jiggle! Whether making them or observing them, they are the perfect outlet for the THC-laced brain. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something otherworldly about [jelly cakes]; it doesn\u2019t have any physics to it whatsoever, it just jiggles, it\u2019s all-powerful, it\u2019s almighty, you\u2019re kind of scared of it a little bit,\u201d one of the jelly-makers told Munchies<\/u><\/a> about \u201cShow Me Your Aspics\u201d in 2018. <\/p>\n

Other members noted that, especially in the current political climate, jelly is a soothing escape \u2014 visual ASMR, if you will. We strongly agree, which is why we put together this list of current jelly cake-makers playing with gelatin, aspic, and agar-agar in the weirdest and most captivating ways that just go perfectly with a side of marijuana.<\/p>\n

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Canadian Thistle Jelly with Heliopsis and Baby\u2019s breath on a paper mache armature<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by \u13f0otanical Sculpture \u15f0useum<\/a> (@paid.technologies) on