Mirror glaze for cake

24.03.2024 Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes, cheesecakes

We live in a time of everything glossy and spectacular.

So why can’t dessert also catch the eye and amaze with its beauty, amaze with its palette and surprise aesthetes? And all the splendor of culinary excellence can come from cakes and pastries covered with mirror glaze. Where you can see your own reflection on dessert. Maybe this is where the name “mirror glaze”, reflecting the amazingness of desserts, came from.

It would seem how it is possible to create this with your own hands at home. And everything is quite simple if you familiarize yourself with the technological techniques and the formula of the “right” ingredients. So, let's start preparing a dessert, with million-dollar chic from the supposedly leading pastry chef of a chic and popular restaurant.

12 grams of gelatin (in classic recipes it is recommended to use sheet gelatin, but you can also use regular crystalline gelatin)

75 grams of boiled and cooled water

150 grams of granulated sugar (necessarily white, so as not to spoil the color of the coating)

150 grams of glucose syrup (it’s easier to make and use invert syrup, but we’ll see how to prepare it)

It is worth noting: Glucose syrup can be replaced not only with invert honey, but also with liquid honey (only a strong honey taste will be felt) or molasses.

100 grams (exactly grams - it’s better to measure on an electronic scale) condensed milk

4-5 drops food coloring

As you can see, the presented list of products for creating breathtaking beauty is absolutely affordable. Only the dye can not be found in every store, but rather in specialized retail outlets for confectioners. If you find a specialized culinary store, then buy it - it is more economical. It is also acceptable to use powdered food fat-soluble dyes for culinary creativity.

Please note: Every housewife knows how to make it with her own hands and at home, for example, from beets or spinach. So such wisdom is not suitable for mirror glossy glaze. If you can't find food coloring, try using dark chocolate (instead of white). It is possible to create a mirror glaze based on berry puree (some berries also give a bright color), see the recipe for which.

Inventory

tablespoon

hob

electronic balance

microwave

container with lid

How to make glossy cake frosting

Let's start with gelatin: soak it in ice water and leave it to swell.

If it is more convenient for you to work with crystalline gelatin, then it needs to be soaked in a ratio of 1 to 6, that is, for 12 grams of gelatin crystals we use 72 grams of water.

It is better to measure all volumes on electronic scales.

In a separate container that can be used over an open fire, put granulated sugar, pour boiled water and our own prepared.

Bring the sugar mixture to a boil and complete dissolution of the granulated sugar.

Place the chocolate, broken into pieces, into another container. We need melted chocolate, so we place the bowl in a water bath or put it in the microwave, for 15 seconds, no more. Then you take out the container, mix the mass, and put it back for a few seconds.

It is worth noting: It is important not to let the chocolate boil, otherwise it will curdle and lose quality.

Pour condensed milk over the melted chocolate. Mix the mixture until smooth.

Let's combine the two resulting compositions: condensed chocolate and sugar syrup. Mix everything.

You can do everything in a glass with a blender - it’s faster, although difficult.

While the composition is hot, add soaked leaf gelatin into it.

If crystalline gelatin was used, then pour it into the mixture in the same way.

Let's add a few drops of food coloring to the future beauty.

We begin to actively work with the blender at minimum speed, trying to maintain an angle of 45°. The blender needs to be immersed in the mixture as much as possible, and not lifted, so that bubbles form on the surface.

I think that for those who are faced with the preparation of mirror glaze for the first time, bubbles will definitely appear on the surface.

You can correct the bubbly fact very simply - strain the composition.

That's all! We did it! Mirror glaze is ready!

Pour it into a container convenient for use, cover with a lid and put it in the refrigerator for storage until the cake is baked.

Note: You can store the glossy glaze in a closed container in the refrigerator for several days (up to a month). Before use, you need to warm it up a little (to about 35°) to restore its fluidity.

We cover our dessert with glaze and put it in the refrigerator to harden. Let’s find out exactly how to properly coat the dessert.

A simple and tasty mirror glaze will be useful to all those who love mousse cakes and pastries and want to make them themselves. This glaze is suitable exclusively for covering mousse surfaces and poured onto frozen mousse or for creating decorative smudges on already covered cakes, since for the desired effect the surface must be perfectly smooth. Making mirror glaze with white chocolate is quite simple, but be sure to have a food thermometer and an immersion blender. It may be possible to prepare it without a thermometer, but I do not guarantee the result of such “guessing whether it’s already or not yet,” so I don’t even indicate ways to navigate the temperature without a thermometer. Mirror glaze has its own nuances of working with it and read about them in the continuation of the preface.

And so, the nuances of preparing and working with mirror glaze:

1) After you have prepared the mirror glaze, for greater smoothness and stability of the emulsion, which is the glaze, you need to beat it well with a submersible blender. You should blend at minimum speed at an approximate angle of 45ᵒ, so that the head of the blender is completely immersed in the icing, so that foam does not form on the surface, which will certainly come out on the surface of the cake if it is not removed.

2) You can use the mirror glaze on the day of preparation, but it is better to cool it completely, put it in the refrigerator and use it the next day. And then warm it up, beat it again with a blender and, when it reaches operating temperature, use it. Then the mirror glaze goes on smoother and covers the surface of the cake better.

3) Mirror glaze has its own operating temperature. For this glaze it is 32-35 ᵒС. This is the temperature at which it should be poured onto frozen mousse cake or brownies. If it is lower, the glaze will not lay down properly, but will thicken and will not flow down the cake. And if it is higher, that is, it will be too hot, it will quickly drain from the cake without covering it properly. That is, watch the temperature very carefully!!!

4) Before removing the mousse cake or pastries from the freezer, the mirror glaze should already be ready!!! And everything needs to be done very quickly. If the cake, after being removed from the freezer, sits and waits until you complete the unfinished work, then condensation will form on it and the glaze will drain without covering the cake. And not only that, even if everything is done correctly and quickly, before applying the glaze, it is advisable to wipe the surface of the mousse cake with your palm to remove possible condensation and quickly water it.

5) The mousse cake should be placed on a special base (can be purchased in online stores) or on a flat plate that has the same diameter as the cake. So that the glaze can flow freely without lingering on the sides of the dish.

6) It is better to pour mirror glaze over the cake through a fine sieve. So that it lies evenly and traps possible bubbles in the sieve.

7) There should be more glaze than is really needed. This is so that the cake is covered evenly and it is comfortable to work with. Since if there is not enough of it, then there may be a gap of uncovered surface on the cake, etc., and the glaze that is already glass cannot be used immediately, since it is no longer at working temperature. The glass glaze can be collected and stored in the refrigerator for a month or in the freezer for 3 months. Then you can mix it with a fresh portion of glaze and use it for its intended purpose.

8) Remove the glaze from the bottom of the cake, after all has been poured, using a sharp knife or pastry spatula. Confident but careful movement.

Well, that seems to be everything that seems important when working with mirror glaze. I don't write anything about food coloring because I don't use it at home. There is a lot of such information on the Internet for those who are interested. Since I primarily write for home cooks, I believe home baked goods should be as natural as possible. (Although outside the home I also avoid all kinds of colorful sweets, where the entire periodic table is probably in them) I have several ideas on how to make the glaze colored and still tasty in a natural way, albeit with a limited range of shades, but more on that later, since the recipe requires subsequent testing. Over time, I will publish another recipe for mirror glaze with dark chocolate and cocoa.

Ingredients

12 grams gelatin
135 ml water
150 grams of sugar
150 grams
100g white chocolate, chopped
100g condensed milk

1) Soak gelatin in 60 ml of water (take it from the amount indicated in the ingredients).

Amazingly beautiful mirror cakes have gained popularity recently. They are delicate in taste and minimalistic in appearance, but they look amazing and fascinate with their unusual shine. Such cakes will appeal to Libra who strives for perfection, Taurus who loves to cook, and Leo will definitely like the fact that they can see their reflection in the cake. But such a wonderful cake will surprise and impress representatives of any zodiac sign!

Properly prepared mirror glaze for cake decoration has an ideal mirror structure. Glaze is made on various products: chocolate, fruit puree, cream, cocoa and much more.

Mirror cakes Usually prepared on the basis of mousse, they consist of a thin sponge cake, filling and mousse. Mirror glaze is suitable for mousse and other desserts that require freezing, as they have a smooth surface to achieve the desired even effect.

How to make mirror cakes

Mirror cakes became especially popular when the Ufa craftswoman Olga Noskova became an Instagram star, posting photos of her works there. Photos of cakes with icing developed according to her unique recipe were reprinted by famous world publications, and Britney Spears called them “too beautiful to eat.” Olga Noskova has been nominated for The Shorty Awards, which are awarded to the most popular accounts on social networks.

For her cakes, she uses Belgian and Swiss chocolate, French natural dyes, and various berry and fruit purees.

It seems that such a wonderful cake is impossible to prepare at home, but if you know the technology and the exact formula of the ingredients, all this is quite possible.

How to make mirror glaze at home yourself

Typically, mirror glaze contains water, sugar, gelatin, glucose syrup and chocolate. To prepare the miracle cake icing at home on your own, we will need a culinary thermometer to accurately measure the temperature.

Recipe for mirror glaze at home:

150 g glucose syrup
150 g granulated sugar
75 g water
12 g gelatin
60 g water for gelatin
100 g condensed milk
150 g white chocolate
Dye for desired color

Soak gelatin in cold water. Mix water, sugar and glucose syrup and boil. Add swollen gelatin to the boiling mixture and mix well.
Separately mix condensed milk with white chocolate. Pour the syrup into the chocolate and condensed milk mixture.
Add the coloring and beat the mixture in an immersion blender at an angle to avoid the formation of bubbles.
Then cover the glaze with cling film and refrigerate for 12 hours.
Before applying to the cake, the glaze should be 35 degrees (heat in the microwave or in a water bath).
Take out the pre-prepared cake (it should be completely frozen in the freezer). It is advisable to use mousse for a smooth surface.
Now you need to cover the cake with icing. Place the cake on a wire rack, place a baking sheet under the wire rack, and carefully pour the glaze over the cake. It is more convenient to pour in three stages - one third of the mixture at a time. The glaze at the specified temperature will spread on its own. If necessary, smooth with a spatula, but only quickly, the glaze sets quickly.
Cool the cake again (you can put it in the freezer for an hour). Cut with a hot dry knife.

photo of mirror cakes with magic glaze

In the world of beauty, culinary modern desserts, stunning in their beauty, have appeared and firmly taken their place. They attract our attention, amaze us with their palette of colors and extraordinary shine. All this splendor comes from the mirror glaze that covers cakes and pastries. As you get closer, you might even see your reflection on the cake. Apparently, this is where this name, which accurately reflects the beauty of the cake, comes from - mirror glaze! When I first saw photos of these cakes, they simply fascinated me.

It seems impossible to prepare such a miracle at home. But no - knowing the technological techniques and the “formula” of the ingredients, it’s quite possible to master everything. This article for the website “Tasty and Simple” was prepared by amateur cook Lyudmila, who independently studied all the intricacies of the cooking process and now shares her experience with us and tells us how to make mirror glaze for mousse cakes. All photos shown in the article are Lyudmila’s works. Agree, these desserts look like a million dollars and seem like they were made by the pastry chef of a chic restaurant!

We will study and develop the topic of mousse desserts in the future, and now - a review article on how to make mirror glaze in different ways: with or without glucose syrup, with invert syrup, with honey. There are recommendations for choosing dyes for preparing colored mirror glazes for every taste - white, chocolate, mother-of-pearl. To give you a complete understanding of the technological process, the article provides a detailed step-by-step cooking recipe. Yes, it's not easy. But how exciting!

What kind of cakes can be decorated?

Mirror glaze is made to cover mousse desserts (cakes, pastries), since only mousse cakes can have an absolutely smooth surface to achieve the desired effect of shine and specularity. As a rule, mousse desserts are made in special silicone molds or in confectionery rings, which create a smooth cake surface. There are several ways to prepare glaze, depending on its constituent ingredients.

What dyes can be used?

As can be seen from the composition of the ingredients, the newfangled mirror glaze is nothing more than an emulsion - it has a water part (syrup) and an oil part (chocolate). Therefore, to make colored glaze, water-soluble and fat-soluble dyes can be used as dyes. Americolor dyes are very popular among cooks. You need to add them in drops until you get the desired color. You can also use dry fat-soluble dyes.

If you add kandurin (powder) of gold or silver color, the glaze acquires a stunning pearlescent sheen. To prepare a white mirror glaze, titanium dioxide is used - this is a white powdery substance, since pure titanium dioxide TiO2 is the most stable of all known white pigments.

Basic recipe with glucose syrup

First, let's look at the basic universal method of preparing colored mirror glaze using glucose. Accuracy is important in the technology for preparing this confectionery miracle, so you will need measuring instruments - electronic scales and a culinary thermometer. You will also need an immersion blender with a tall glass.

Ingredients:

12 g – leaf gelatin
75 g – water
150 g – white sugar
150 g – glucose syrup
100 g – condensed milk
150 g – white chocolate
3-4 drops – food coloring

Preparation:

Let's start with gelatin. Soak leaf gelatin in ice water. It’s easier to work with sheet gelatin! But if you like to use powdered gelatin, then you need to fill it with ice water, but in a ratio of 1:6, i.e. take 12 g of gelatin and fill it with 72 g of water. We measure everything on electronic scales.
Let's prepare a tall glass from an immersion blender or a jug into which we put condensed milk, then finely chopped white chocolate.
First pour water into the saucepan, then add sugar and glucose syrup, put it on the fire and gradually heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves. At the same time, you don’t need to stir the sugar with a spoon yet, move the saucepan slightly on the stove, this will help the sugar dissolve faster. The sugar has dissolved and the mixture is boiling.
We begin to measure the temperature of the syrup with an electronic thermometer. Stir with a spoon and bring the syrup to a temperature of 103 degrees. At this stage, 2 points are very important: 1. if the icing is not cooked enough, it will drain from the sides of the cake; 2. overcooked - the glaze will be very thick, and most likely you will not be able to pour it over the cake.
Pour the hot syrup into a glass, the temperature of the syrup gradually decreases to 85 degrees, the chocolate melts, add the squeezed gelatin. Powdered gelatin can first be slightly melted in the microwave and poured into a glass. Mix everything carefully.
Add a few drops of dye and start punching the glaze with a blender, and you can see how the color of the glaze changes. Add dye if you want a more saturated color. Tip: You can see the color of your cake without pouring it - freeze a white plastic spoon, then dip it into the finished frosting.
Hold the blender at an angle of approximately 45 °, turning only the glass, and you will see how bubbles go into the funnel that forms (if you use the blender incorrectly, their number will increase). The blender runs at minimum speed.
Excellent result if you punch without bubbles. Any bubbles that form can be removed by straining the glaze through a fine sieve into another glass or jug and cover with cling film. Glucose syrup forms a film on the glaze, so immediately cover the glaze with cling film in contact. Place the glaze in the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight to stabilize.
After 12 hours, you can check how well it turned out - press your fingers on the glaze, if it is elastic and springy, then the result is excellent!
We heat the glaze in the microwave or in a water bath and beat it again with a blender and measure the temperature again, the operating temperature should be 30-35 degrees. Strain the glaze through a sieve into a jug with a spout (this is easier to pour from) if bubbles form.
The icing is ready, the operating temperature is 30-35 degrees, you can remove the frozen cake from the freezer and immediately start pouring. Important point: If your cake sits on the table for at least 5 minutes while you go somewhere and are looking for something, the temperature of the glaze will change, and condensation will form on the surface of the cake and the glaze will simply drain from the cake.

What to do if there is no glucose syrup?

This syrup is not sold everywhere; it is difficult to find in small towns. In this case, we present two proven recipes for preparing mirror glaze without using glucose syrup: one based on honey, the other with homemade invert syrup.

Honey Glaze Recipe

Another option for colored glaze: if you don’t have glucose syrup on hand, you can take the same amount of light liquid honey. The magnificent aroma of honey and the aroma of flowering herbs will give your dessert an incredible taste in combination with delicate mousse and fruit fillings.

Ingredients:

12 g – leaf gelatin
75 g – water
150 g – white sugar
150 g – natural honey
100 g – condensed milk
150 g – white chocolate
3-4 drops – food coloring

Preparing glaze with honey is similar to preparing mirror glaze with glucose syrup.

Mirror glaze with invert syrup

In this method of preparing mirror glaze, we use invert syrup instead of glucose syrup. To prepare invert syrup you need sugar, water and citric acid. The finished invert syrup has a consistency similar to liquid honey. We won’t go into the details of its preparation now, but if you’re interested, there are recipes on the vast expanses of the Internet.

Ingredients:

7 g – leaf gelatin
50 g – water
100 g – white sugar
100 g – invert syrup
70 g – condensed milk
100 g – white chocolate
3-4 drops – food coloring

Preparation:

Heat water, sugar and invert syrup, bring the temperature of the syrup to 103 degrees. Pour over condensed milk and white chocolate pieces, stir well, add gelatin, pre-swollen and squeezed out, and food coloring.
Blend everything with a blender until smooth. The working temperature of the glaze should be within 30-35 degrees.
The prepared glaze can be left in the refrigerator under cling film for several days, i.e. prepare in advance, and before covering the cake or pastries, heat in the microwave or in a water bath to operating temperature.

Mirror chocolate glaze

She's just incredible. The bright chocolate taste of the glaze is slightly bitter, like dark chocolate, and in contrast goes well with the delicate and sweet mousse. There is no dye in this recipe; cocoa plays its role. We take good quality cocoa, for example alkalized cocoa powder, Cacao Barry.

Frosting recipe with cocoa and cream

Ingredients:

12 g – leaf gelatin
160 g – cream 33% fat
240 g – sugar
100 g – water
80 g – glucose syrup
80 g – cocoa

Preparation:

Soak gelatin in cold water, sheet gelatin for 10 minutes, powder in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Heat the cream over medium heat. Next, we need to cook the syrup from water, sugar and glucose syrup to a temperature of 111 degrees; we use an electronic thermometer to measure it. A very important point is not to overcook, otherwise the syrup will be thick and it will be difficult to pour the cake.
At a temperature of 111 degrees, remove the syrup from the heat and pour in the boiled cream, then add cocoa. You need to mix everything well and put it on the fire again. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the squeezed gelatin.
Then pour it into a tall glass or jug and puree it with a blender. We punch at minimum speed until smooth, while trying to reduce the number of bubbles to a minimum.
The glaze is ready. The working temperature of the glaze should be within 36-40 degrees. You can take the dessert out of the freezer and cover it with delicious chocolate glaze. We are sure that you will make this glaze more than once.

Milk chocolate recipe

In this mirror glaze recipe we do not use food coloring, perhaps this is what will be of great interest to someone. Here we will take a bar of milk chocolate, it has a soft, delicate and caramel color. The cake will look amazing.

Ingredients:

12 g – leaf gelatin
75 g – water
150 g – sugar
150 g – glucose syrup
100 g – condensed milk
150 g – milk chocolate 55%

Preparation:

Soak gelatin in ice water.
Heat water, sugar and glucose and bring to 103 degrees.
Pour over a mixture of condensed milk, finely chopped chocolate and swollen, squeezed gelatin.
Blend with a blender at minimum speed. Cover the contact with cling film; this must be done, since glucose syrup forms a film on the glaze. Place in the refrigerator for at least overnight or 24 hours.
Before pouring the cake, heat it in the microwave or in a water bath to 30-35 degrees.

Coating of cakes and pastries

Surely you were curious about how to cover a mousse cake with mirror glaze? This is the most interesting and exciting moment in cooking. Our glaze is already ready, it’s in the refrigerator, covered with cling film. Let's look at the whole filling process step by step.

We take the glaze out of the refrigerator and heat it in the microwave or in a water bath to a temperature of 30-35 degrees Celsius.
Remove the film and beat with a blender until smooth. Any bubbles that appear can be filtered through a sieve. Let's prepare a wire rack for placing the frozen cake. Place a wire rack on a tray or large dish to catch any icing dripping from the cake.
Remove the frozen cake from the pan. If the edges of the cake are sharp or not quite even, you can smooth them out with the help of your hands. Do not hold it in your hands for a long time, excess heat and the formation of condensation on the cake will spoil the icing, it will drain from the cake. At the correct glaze temperature, the cake is covered with an even glossy layer.
Fill it up. If you have a cake with a flat top surface, you can remove the excess glaze immediately after pouring, the layer will be beautifully thin and there will be less sweetness. We confidently do it once with a spatula, carefully moving the glaze on top of the cake. But it’s better not to touch if you are not sure of your actions. We wait a little while for the glaze to set and carefully tuck the hanging strands of glaze under the cake.
Take the cake from below with your hand and transfer it to the base using a spatula (or knife). Place in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. Then remove the cake from the refrigerator and decorate.
We return it to the refrigerator again so that the cake begins to gradually thaw, this will take 5-6 hours. The cakes take about 3 hours to thaw. Here you can calculate the start time of the festive event and decide when to start filling the cake with icing.

Every time you prepare a cake, the constant question arises - how do we decorate it? An excellent option for decorating a cake would be to make mirror glaze. But not everyone knows how to cook it correctly. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the recipe and now you will know exactly how to prepare mirror glaze for a cake at home. And a cake decorated in this way will look simply magnificent!

To prepare the mirror glaze for the cake we will need:

Water - 75 ml
Gelatin - 1 tablespoon
honey - 150 ml
Sugar - 150 grams
Condensed milk - 150 grams
Milk chocolate - 150 grams

How to make mirror glaze for a cake

Soak the gelatin for 20 minutes in a small volume of water (30 milliliters will be enough). Mix the rest of the water with honey and sugar, place on the fire, bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes.

Remove the syrup from the heat, carefully add gelatin dissolved in water, condensed milk and chocolate broken into small pieces. Mix quickly and thoroughly until the chocolate and gelatin are completely dissolved. Well, our mirror glaze is ready!

Now all that remains is to properly apply the glaze to the cake. Place the finished cake on a wire rack. Spread the glaze onto the cake with a spoon and do not spread it under any circumstances. It should flow freely from the cake (this is why we placed the cake on the wire rack).

To prevent air bubbles from forming on the surface, the glaze can be poured onto the cake through a sieve. When the cake is completely covered with mirror glaze, place it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to harden.