Bob’s Burgers Minimalistic Character Jelly/Jello Cups

I let a poll on Instagram choose what TV show‘s main characters would be the subject of this month’s jelly recipe, and I was not at all surprised when Bob’s Burgers won 😂

One of the downsides to living in Australia (and I don’t often speak of its downsides as, other than it being kind of boring here, we do have it pretty great!), is that it’s impossible to watch Bob’s Burgers here legally – OTHER than season one.

I know; it’s insane. I do own season one – as you will see in these photos – and Daniel and I LOVE it to death. I’ve also seen a lot of other clips and screenshots from the other NINE SEASONS that Australia is missing out on (?!?!?!), so I do know Bob’s Burgers is an amazing show, and I was more than happy to honour it in jelly form.

I’ve been wanting to learn more with my jelly creations in order to take them to the next level. During the making and photographing of this creation, I went through a lot of trial and error that will (hopefully) assist me in my future jelly recipes.

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You may notice that most layers are opaque now, which is something I’ve been trying to achieve for a while now as it’s a lot easier to see the different layers.

I still have some work to do on making the colours vibrant as well, but just think of where my jelly creations will be by next year if I keep them up at this pace!

Anyway, enough blabbing – the recipe is long enough as it is 😂🙊

♡

YOU WILL NEED:

Ingredients:
♡ Gelatine powder
♡ Lemon cordial
♡ Coconut milk
♡ Condensed milk
♡ Sugar
♡ AmeriColor AmeriMist food colour in Electric Green, Electric Blue, Electric Yellow, Deep Pink, Royal Blue, Super Black, and Super Red.

Other items:
♡ Pipettes (the more, the merrier!)
♡ Tracing paper
♡ Small, sturdy tray
♡ Five tall glasses (these are the ones I used)
♡ Spatula or whisk
♡ Multiple bowls
♡ Regular white paper, pencil, ruler, and scissors
♡ Stirring sticks, skewers, or spoons

DIRECTIONS:

To make the character guides:

Measure one the glasses you’re going to use, and draw that size out onto your tracing paper five times, one for each character. 

This is the image of the Belcher family (you may need to scroll down a little to find it, depending on the size of your screen) that I based my jelly creation off, as they’re all standing together and upright, so you get a good feel of their correct heights, so feel free to go ahead and use that. Just right click on it, open it up in a new tab, and zoom in until it’s the same size as the piece of paper that you just cut out.

Hold up the tracing paper, as well as your pencil, to your computer screen – or, if you feel comfortable enough, put some tape on the corners of your tracing paper so you don’t need to hold it in place. Draw a rough line where each character’s colours start and end except for their shoes, because most characters’ shoes just aren’t big enough to warrant making an entire batch of jelly for.

For example: with Bob’s I drew a line at the bottom of his pants and wrote what colour they were, a line where they ended and his apron began and wrote what colour it was, a line where his apron stopped and his neck began and wrote what colour it was, a line where his neck stopped and his hair began and wrote what colour it was, and then a line where his hair stopped.

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Since we’re going for minimalism here, you need to forget about a lot of details, such as what’s going on over on the sides (arms, sleeves, etc), and facial features (glasses, hair clips, and yes, even that iconic moustache). For this batch, I only included legs/pants, clothes, faces, and hair. Although with Louise, I decided to forego her hair entirely and just do her hair, since that’s what we see mostly.

Anyway, you get the gist, continue roughly tracing the lines from your screen, then move onto a white paper of paper. Label each guide so you know who is who, then cut them out. Place them onto your white piece of paper, trace around them, then re-draw and re-rule them with straighter lines. This also gives you the chance to alter anything if you wish.

I sometimes originally keep some details in during my first trace that I decide to leave out in this step, which is why I always make a second guide. Plus, they’re much easier to see on regular paper, and while you’re working with quickly-setting jelly later on, you won’t want to be struggling to read your guides later on, trust me! Label and cut out your final copy of your guides, then move onto the jelly 😋

To make the jelly:

STEP ONE:

Place your five tall glasses on your tray. Write each character’s name on a small piece of paper and tape them down in front on each glass so you know which glass is for which character.

Spoon 1 tablespoons of gelatine powder into a metal bowl. Boil 125ml of water and pour it in the bowl, stirring with your spatula or whisk until dissolved. Add in 100ml of condensed milk and stir well until combined. This batch is for your Tina, Gene, and Louise glasses only, so make sure you have the character guides nearby.

Use your pipettes to carefully fill each of the three glasses until the lines you drew on your guides. Make sure you pipe out the mixture slowly so you don’t get any splashed on the side of the glass. Allow the mixture to cool slightly on the bench before moving it to the fridge to set for 2 hours. Clean and dry all utensils used.

STEP TWO:

After the first layer of jelly is set, spoon 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of gelatine powder into a metal bowl. Boil 125ml of water, pour it in the bowl, and stir until the gelatine is completely dissolved. Mix in 100ml of lemon cordial until combined. Add one drop of Royal Blue food colour and whisk until the mixture is all one colour.

Allow the jelly mixture to cool almost completely; it shouldn’t start to set yet. Once it has cooled, get your character guides for Linda and Tina. Use the pipette to pipe the blue jelly into each glass until it reaches the lines on your characters guides.

Carefully pick up the tray and move it to your fridge for a minimum of 2 hours; due to the thin layers, the jelly shouldn’t take too long to set, but always check before adding another layer. If it seems too wobbly, leave it for another hour or two before moving on.

STEP THREE:

Spoon two tablespoons of gelatine powder and one tablespoon of sugar into a metal bowl. Boil 250ml of water and pour into the bowl, mixing until the gelatine and sugar are dissolved. Place 200ml of coconut milk on the stove. Stir until heated well, then add to the jelly mixture and stir again to combine.

Split the jelly mixture into three bowls: two smaller amounts (for Bob’s grey shorts, and Gene’s blue shorts), and one larger amount (for Louise’s green dress). Add a few drops of Electric Green to one bowl and mix with a stirring stick or skewer until you’re happy with the colour and add one drop of Electric Blue (or more, if you think it needs it!) to another bowl and mix.

To make the grey for Bob’s shorts, I randomly mixed Royal Blue, Super Red, and mostly Super Black together just hoping for the best, and it ended up okay! I think I ended up adding a bit of Electric Yellow in there too, because basically just mixing a bit of all colours end up making grey. Look up a little colour theory on how to make grey for some tips.

If you HAVE grey food colour – which, in my huge collection, I apparently don’t – give that a try, but do remember that we’re working with a white base here, so it may come out lighter than you want, but it’s still better than nothing!

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Once you have all your colours, allow them to cool completely (don’t worry, it won’t start to set – this is to ensure it won’t melt the layer below it), then get your guides for Gene, Bob, and Louise ready. THIS is when it’s beneficial to have lots of pipettes! You need a new one for each colour you’re piping out. I made do with only two, but that meant I had to quickly wash and dry one of them when I swapped to a different colour (which is why, after I finished this recipe, I ordered 10 new pipettes for myself 😂).

With Louise’s character guide in one hand, pipe out her green dress until your reach the line you drew, then quickly rinse out the pipette you used and leave it to dry while you move on. Hold up Bob’s character guide and pipe out his grey shorts until you reach their line. Dry out the pipette you just washed, then pipe out Gene’s blue shorts until you reach their line on his character guide. Very carefully transfer the tray to the fridge for 2-4 hours. Wash and dry all utensils you used.

STEP FOUR:

Spoon two tablespoons of gelatine powder and one tablespoon of sugar into a metal bowl. Boil 250ml of water and mix until everything is dissolved. Add in 200ml of coconut milk and stir until combined.

Wait until mixture has cooled completely, then locate the character guides for Bob and Linda. Pipe out the apron layers for both characters, then carefully move the tray of glasses into the fridge for 2-4 hours. Wash and dry all utensils used.

STEP FIVE:

Spoon two tablespoons of gelatine powder and one tablespoon of sugar into a metal bowl. Boil 250ml of water, pour into the bowl, and stir until everything is dissolved. Place 200ml of coconut milk onto the stove. Stir until heated well, then add to the jelly mixture and stir again to combine.

Split the jelly mixture into three bowls for Linda’s red shirt, Tina’s light blue shirt, and Gene’s yellow shirt. You will need slightly more jelly mixture for Gene’s bowl, as his shirt is bigger than the other two. Add 2-3 drops of Electric Yellow to one bowl and mix. Add 2-3 drops of Super Red of another bowl and mix. Add 1 drop of Electric Blue to the third bowl and mix.

Allow all three bowls of jelly mix to cool completely, then pipe them into their corresponding glasses by following their character guides (remembering to only use clean pipettes each time!). Once you’ve done that, carefully move the tray to your fridge and leave to set for 2-4 hours. Wash and dry every utensil used.

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STEP SIX:

Spoon two tablespoons of gelatine powder to a metal bowl. Boil 250ml of water, pour into the bowl and stir until dissolved. Add 200ml of condensed milk and mix until combined. Allow to cool before piping into each glass.

This is for everyone’s faces, but not everyone’s is the same thickness, so be sure to still follow the character guides. Once you’re finished piping, carefully move the tray into the fridge and allow to set for 1-2 hours.

STEP SEVEN:

Spoon 1 tablespoon of gelatine powder into a metal bowl. Boil 125ml of water, pour into the bowl and stir until dissolved. Measure out 200ml of lemon cordial and mix until combined. Add in a few drops of Super Black food colouring and continue mixing. Allow the mixture to cool down before piping the hair onto each one of the family members besides Louise. Wash and dry utensils used.

Spoon 1/2 tablespoon of gelatine powder and 1/2 a tablespoon of sugar into a metal bowl. Boil 60ml of water, pour into the bowl and stir until dissolved. Heat up 100ml of coconut milk on the stove, then add to the jelly and mix. Place two drops of Deep Pink food colour into the jelly mixture and stir well. Allow to cool completely before piping on top of Louise’s jelly cup, following her character guide.

♡

These creations are NOT easy, are they?! I really don’t know why I put the word “minimalism” in the title at all, really! 😅

I’ve thought about writing a behind-the-scenes post about all the work that REALLY goes into me creating them – because there is a WHOLE lot more that I don’t include in these posts – but I’m not sure if anyone would really read that, hah!

Still, I do love making these. And I know I’ll love having a collection of photos of them in the future; a whole compilation of my favourite TV shows (and someday, movies!) that I honoured in jelly form because… well, purely because I wanted to 🙌

For months now, Daniel has called me the “Jelly Bandit”. I don’t think he quite realises what “bandit” means, but ever since he first said it, he has stuck with it and refuses to change it, so I will forever be known as the jelly bandit in our household – and I am okay with that 😎

Until next time,
Indya xx

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