Jelly push pops on a stick

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lemon-lime soda, like Sprite
• 1 cup of a childhood drink, such as Zuko, Yupi, or Kool-Aid (blueberry)
• 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 2 sachets (7 g each) odorless gelatin powder
• 300 gr. pound cake
• 1/2 cup Nerds caramels, the candy from the film "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," part of the Christmas story series
• 2 sticks of green licorice candy
• 16 mini gummy fish
• Special equipment: 8 push-pop dessert molds, 18 cm long.

Preparation:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the club soda, diluted powdered soda, and sugar to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the gelatin. Continue stirring constantly until the gelatin dissolves. Pour the mixture into a medium bowl and refrigerate until it begins to set (it should be thick but still runny and pourable), about 1 hour.
2. Cut the cake into 8 slices, each 6 mm thick. Remove the pushers from the molds. Press the round part of each mold onto a slice of cake, leaving a tightly fitting circle of cake in each mold; this will be the seabed. Replace the pushers. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of caramel candies into each mold; these will be the pebbles.
3. To make seaweed from licorice sticks, cut them into 1.5-inch pieces, fold each piece in half, and then twist them so that both ends stick out to resemble the stems of seaweed in an aquarium.
4. Place 0.5 cups of jelly in a small microwave-safe bowl. Fill each mold halfway with the remaining jelly (about 1.5 tablespoons). Press 1 piece of "licorice seaweed" into each mold. Place 2 gummy fish in each mold.
5. Fill the remaining spaces of the molds with the gelatin mixture (about 1.5 tablespoons each), leaving about 6 mm of headroom; lightly tap the molds to remove any air bubbles. Microwave the reserved gelatin mixture until it reaches a pouring consistency, about 30 seconds. Pour 1 teaspoon into each mold and refrigerate until the jelly is completely set, about 3 hours.