What is the mirror glaze cake?
A Russian confectioner @olganoskovaa from Moscow, Russia, on Instagram has these mirror glaze cakes, and they blow my mind every single time. These have been on my wishlist for a while. Mirror glaze is a shiny cake. You make it by pouring a chocolate-based sugar glaze. The glaze is essentially sweet. It consists of sugar, glucose, condensed milk, gelatin, and white chocolate. These shiny cakes took off as a treat recently, but they look like they are here to stay. You can see how I made this mango mousse cake with the mango jello insert in the next post. It’s super simple, easy, and effortless in the process, just a lot of in-between time. Fridge and freezer time, but in general, the recipe is really simple, and I hope you will try it.
What is Agar Agar?
Agar is made from cooked and pressed algae. I believe it’s a kind of weed or plant. So it’s all natural.
What is vegetarian gelatin?
Vegetarian gelatin contains chemicals like adipic acid, tapioca dextrin, calcium phosphate, and potassium nitrate. In fact, the correct name would be artificial gelatin. And it works the same way as ordinary gelatin. You soak it in water, let it absorb, and then incorporate it as usual.
Vegetarian gelatin vs. Agar Agar
As I said in my video, if you have to choose between the two, I’d recommend going with the agar-agar. I have used vegetarian gelatin for this recipe, but I think next time, I will use agar-agar instead. In the recipe below, I will suggest the agar-agar usage as well.
Ingredients and substitutes
Gelatin or Agar Agar – This helps the mirror glaze stick to the cake. I discussed this in more detail above. Glucose – This helps prevent the mixture from crystallizing. And, if you can’t find glucose, you can also use light corn syrup. But you do need one of these two. Sugar – Yes, I know condensed milk is sweet. And then again, we have sugar. But this recipe is not about the calories. It’s about achieving that mirror glaze effect. Condensed milk – Believe it or not, this is the star of the show in this recipe. This is where that mirror glaze effect comes into play. I also have a recipe for homemade condensed milk in 5 minutes. However, I have never used it to make this mirror glaze. So, if you do use it, could you please let us know your results in the comments below? White chocolate – We use white chocolate so we can play with color and achieve all those different colors. And yet, you can also use dark chocolate. Of course, once you add dark chocolate, there is only one color – brown – so you won’t be able to make the blue, red, and all those other fancy colors.
Vegetarian mirror glaze
Have all your ingredients ready, so you do not leave out anything. Divide the water into two – place vegetarian gelatin or agar-agar in one half and let sit for 3 to 5 minutes to bloom. In a heavy-based saucepan – add glucose, sugar, condensed milk, and remaining water. Let it come to a boil over low to medium heat. Once all the sugar has dissolved – and the mixture has come to a nice slow boil. Take it off the heat. Let rest for a minute before you add the white chocolate. The heat in the mixture should be enough to melt the white chocolate. Next, add the soaked/bloomed gelatin – And let it melt. Then, strain the mixture to remove any undissolved gelatin or not melted chocolate. Divide the glaze for the second color if you need it. Color the glaze and let it come to room temperature. Use glaze as shown in the mirror at room temperature.
Tips and troubleshooting
My glaze is too thick, so it won’t pour – You need the vegetarian mirror glaze to be at pouring consistency. So, before you attempt to pour, take a ladle and check consistency. And if it’s not pouring, then add a few tablespoons of water. But, be careful when adding water, as you cannot make it thicker once you’ve diluted it. My glaze is too thin – If you have not boiled the mixture enough when preparing the mirror glaze, it will be too runny. And, as a result, you will get a very thin coverage. I suggest placing the glaze in the fridge for 3 to 5 minutes. This will help thicken it up a bit – then try again. My glaze does not stick to the cake – Condensation on the cake can cause the glaze to slide off the cake rather than stick to it. So, if the cake is frozen, wipe off any excess moisture from the cake and then try again. And, if you live in a place with high humidity, I highly recommend glazing immediately as soon as the cake is out of the freezer, before it has had time to condense. Additionally, setting the air conditioner to high for those few minutes might help as well. My cake started to melt as soon as I started to glaze it – The glaze needs to be room temperature. And, if you use hot or warm glaze, it will melt the frozen cake, causing the cake to have a melting effect.
Try the mango mousse cake has a vegetarian mirror glaze perfect for those of you that cannot use gelatin.
Frequently asked questions
What type of mousse works best for vegetarian mirror glaze cakes?
Any mousse would work: vegetarian, non-vegetarian, dairy-free – as long as you can freeze it. And you don’t always need an insert, either. You can pour mirror glaze over a simple mousse cake as well. The cake inserts do look pretty and are very popular. Here are a few of my mousse recipes that will work well for the mousse cake
Mango Mouse – vegetarian mango mousse Mango coconut cream mousse (vegan, vegetarian) Classic strawberry mousse The Best chocolate mousse Eggless chocolate mousse Vegan chocolate mousse Blackberry mousse (eggless) Chestnut mousse (eggless)
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