I always toss oranges into a salad or peel and eat them plain. Why? I have no idea. Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well, I finally decided it was time to stop the insanity and actually achieve a different result. An orange DESSERT was in order!
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any oranges on hand! But I did have canned mandarin oranges in the pantry so decided to use them for my dessert. They turned out just fine. The really nice thing about canned mandarin oranges is they’re very uniform in size with almost no broken segments. Best of all, opening a can is way easier than peeling a bunch of oranges and separating the segments yourself. This dessert is best made the day before you plan to serve it because of the time needed to chill the different layers.
LAYERED ORANGE MOUSSE CUPS
- 1 loaf pound cake (ready-made or you can bake your own)
- 1 pkg. (6 oz.) Jell-O orange gelatin
- 1½ cups boiling water
- 3 cans (11 oz. each) mandarin oranges
- 1 cup juice from cans of mandarin oranges
- 1 tub (16 oz.) cool whip, thawed
- 12 clear glass ramekins
- Place cans of mandarin oranges in refrigerator to chill while you work with the cake.
- Slice pound cake into twelve ½-inch thick slices.
- Using one of your ramekins or a round cookie cutter, cut a cake circle the same diameter as your ramekins from each slice of cake. Depending on how large your ramekins are, you may only be able to get one whole circle per slice of cake.
- Press a cake circle into the bottom of each ramekin. Feel free to patch together cake pieces if you can’t get a whole cake circle from one slice of pound cake.
- In a large bowl, stir jello and boiling water together for 2 minutes until gelatin is completely dissolved.
- Open cans of mandarin oranges and drain juice into a 1-cup measuring cup.
- Stir chilled juice into hot gelatin.
- Refrigerate gelatin for 40 minutes or until slightly thickened.
- Remove from refrigerator and whisk in 4 cups cool whip until well blended.
- Divide orange mousse evenly over cake in ramekins.
- Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.
- Top each with a layer of plain cool whip.
- Decorate top with orange slices. I arranged 3 mandarin slices to look like a flower.
- Return to refrigerator until ready to serve.
Pinky's Pantry 