I had never made gelatin bubbles before but needed to make a bubble gum-inspired cake! 

Gelatin bubbles always intrigued me but seemed so complicated. I also despise the smell of unflavored gelatin but decided to put my opinions aside for this project.

After a few rounds of experimenting, I realized gelatin bubbles are easier to make than you’d think. The active time isn’t too bad, but they do take quite a while to dry.

Gelatin Bubble Troubleshooting & Helpful Tips

I followed Cake Central’s tutorial as a starting point and learned a ton throughout this process. 

I had some gelatin bubble triumphs, like having some of my gelatin bubbles actually end up being circular!

But I also had some struggles. I repeat, do not turn a fan on and point it directly at the balloons while they are drying…they WILL fly off your counter!!

Clearly, making these gelatin bubbles was an emotional roller coaster. But I promise, this story has a happy ending.

Hopefully you can use the tips I share below to easily make perfect gelatin bubbles.

The recipe included below makes enough bubbles to cover the top of an 8-inch layer cake.

Tip #1: Keep Your Gelatin Warm

The first problem I ran into when making these bubbles was keeping my gelatin the right consistency.

If it cools off too much, it’s hard to dip the balloons in and gets kind of a goopy texture. This makes it difficult to get an even coating on each balloon.

If the gelatin cools off and thickens while you’re dipping the balloons, pop the gelatin into the microwave and heat for 10 seconds to get it back to the right consistency.

The most important thing is to keep an eye on the gelatin and heat it up if it gets too thick. No one wants a lumpy, uneven gelatin bubble!!

Tip #2: Scoop Out Any Foam or Little Bubbles from the Gelatin

After heating up the gelatin, you may notice small bubbles or foam on top of the gelatin.

Carefully spoon them out of the container. This will cause your gelatin bubbles to have a cloudy, bubbly, surface.

I dipped one balloon into the mixture before removing the little bubbles and this is how it turned out! It was riddled with little bubbles and cloudy once it hardened.

Not terrible, but not quite the look I was after.

Tip #3: Use Small Balloons & Don’t Inflate Them Fully

As I began this project, I blew up some small balloons into varying sizes (1 inch to 3 inches in diameter).

I did my best to shape them into circles. But you know what? BALLOONS AREN’T CIRCLES! They’re oblong. My makeshift way around this was to tie the knot very high up on the neck of the balloon. 

This was easiest to do when the balloons weren’t fully inflated. I recommend leaving yourself a bit of room to work with when blowing them up.

Tip #4: Coat Your Balloons with the Right Amount of Shortening

Trust me on this one. It is absolutely essential that you lather up your balloon with a thin coat of shortening.

This step lets you easily remove the balloon from the hardened gelatin.

While you may be tempted to completely slather the balloon with shortening, a thin layer works best!

If you don’t wipe away any excess shortening (white areas), the gelatin won’t stick to the balloon and take shape.

You’ll either end up with white cloudy spots on your gelatin bubbles or uncovered batches of balloon. And no one wants that!!

Tip #5: Shake Off the Excess Gelatin

As you dip each balloon into the gelatin, shake off the excess.

If you don’t, the gelatin will drip off the balloon and harden in strands like in the photo below.

If this happens though, don’t worry! You can gently pinch the strand of gelatin to remove it before it fully hardens, and it won’t be very noticeable.

Excess gelatin can also dry at the base of the balloon and make your bubbles appear darker on the bottom.

Tip #6: Carefully Use a Fan to Help the Gelatin Bubbles Dry Faster

This tip helps speed up the drying process. Without a little breeze, these gelatin bubbles can take up to 12 hours to firm up.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the patience or the time to wait overnight!! If you do have the time and a safe area you can let these dry, by all means go for it.

If you want to speed up this process, you can use a small fan on a LOW SPEED to shorten the drying time.

In full transparency, when I first pointed my fan at my bubbles, 1/3 of them flew off the counter and fell on the ground.

Start by placing the fan a safe distance away from the bubbles, at the lowest possible speed. With the help of the fan, my bubbles dried after about 4 hours.

One strange thing to keep in mind as the gelatin firms up. The gelatin will actually contract a bit and shrink. This will create loud, crackling sounds.

At first, I was convinced my bubbles were shattering but I was relieved to realize it just meant they were drying quickly!

Tip #7: Pop the Balloons with a Sharp Pair of Scissors

Now that you’ve invested hours into these gelatin bubbles, it might seem crazy to just pop the balloons with scissors.

But I promise your bubbles will be strong once they’ve dried. It also helps if you use a good, sharp pair of kitchen scissors.

The balloon should easily pull away from the bubbles thanks to the shortening we spread on them! 

There were a couple places where I skimped on the shortening, and the balloons got indented as I removed the balloons.

But to my surprise, I realized I could simply pop out the indent!! 

Like I mentioned earlier, you’ll be shocked by how sturdy your bubbles end up being. This is also what makes it easy to trim the jagged edges with scissors.

Tip #8: Make These Gelatin Bubbles in Advance

I recommend making these gelatin bubbles ahead of time because the process is rather time consuming!

The bubbles can be stored in an airtight container for several days at room temperature. 

I couldn’t resist sharing a shot of the cake I decorated with these bubbles! Once the bubbles were dry, I used them to decorate this buttercream cake.

I simply pressed them into the buttercream and stacked them on top of each other.

DISCLAIMER: I do not recommend actually eating the bubbles. Although they are edible, they don’t taste great (plain gelatin!!). 

These are much more of a decorative touch than an edible garnish.

Let Me Know What You Think!

If you try my gelatin bubble tutorial, I’d love to hear what you think of it! Please leave a comment and rating below.

Don’t forget to tag me @chelsweets and #chelsweets so that I can see your beautiful creations on social media.

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