Rubik's Cube Jubes
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Resting time in fridge: overnight
Cutting and rolling time: 30 minutes
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2 cups boiling water
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2 cups white sugar plus an extra cup of sugar for rolling the lollies in (you don't need caster or superfine sugar for this recipe)
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9 titanium strength gelatine leaves
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non stick oil spray
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Five even sized containers with straight sides (to make cubes) or fill silicon molds too!
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food extracts and colourings (orange, green, blue, red and yellow) I used LorAnn's extract oils from Glasshouse Cakes & Supplies
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100g dark chocolate (plus a teaspoon of copha, optional)
Step 1 - Place water and sugar in a heavy based saucepan and dissolve the sugar. Then simmer this for about 25-30 minutes stirring regularly.
Step 2 - Meanwhile, about 5 minutes before it is ready, soften the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water. Prepare the containers by spraying them with the oil spray-be generous, the last thing you want is for them to stick.
Step 3 - When the gelatine leaves have softened, squeeze them gently of water but be sure to get the water out and then add the leaves to the hot sugar syrup. Stir until combined well. Then using a ladle, divide the sugar syrup between the five containers making sure the height and quantity of each is the same if you are making a Rubik's Cube. To each container, add colouring and flavourings and stir well. Allow to cool and then place in fridge overnight.
Step 4 - The next day, take a large plate with rim and coat with half of the remaining sugar. Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut around the edge to separate the jube from the container and gently remove it from the container-it is quite firm at this point and not like jelly. Using a sharp knife, cut into cubes and roll in the sugar. As you can see, my containers were rounded and weren't ideal so I had to trim them to get cubes. At this point, you can just serve them like this and they will keep in an airtight container for 2 weeks.
Step 5 - If you want to make a Rubik's cube, make sure the cubes are cut to the same size or thereabouts (you can see I was a bit Swedish chef in the way I did mine). It's really best if you line up your colours first. You will have three layers of 9 cubes in each layer so lay them out so that the colour alternate.
6.Then melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a double boiler and add the copha to help it become a bit more dippable (and besides, who doesn't have a lump of copha in their fridge from years ago-yay I finally found a use for it apart from chocolate crackles!). Dip the sides of the jubes in the chocolate and affix together. Do each layer separately and refrigerate each layer until set. Then dip one layer into the chocolate and affix together.