I just lived through an unbelievably crazy, utterly bizarre, absolute whirlwind of a week.
It felt like a full month though. (Seriously, I told someone to ‘have a great weekend’ on Tuesday 🤦🏻♀️)
The events of this past week… well, legally I can’t tell you about them just yet (everything is fine! Don’t freak out!), but because of the craziness that happened this week, I am now inspired to try several different types of cake decorating styles. I will make my way through them in the coming weeks, and will eventually tell you why I’ve been inspired to make them.
First up is cake with a mirror glaze. I’ve always thought mirror glazed cakes were incredibly pretty so I’m glad I dove in to figure out how to make them. I’ve never considered making one of these before because I don’t have the special equipment required. And then I remembered that I’m incredibly creative and I figured out a way. So here it is: how to hack a mirror glazed cake!
(I’m incredibly proud of myself. Can’t you tell.)
I created an entremet using a 9” round vanilla cake filled with cream cheese frosting, then surrounded it with a delicious fresh raspberry mousse, and coated it with an eye-catching purple mirror glaze. In order to get a beautiful, silky smooth glaze, you have to create a seamless, smooth base out of the mousse layer. But how do you manage that?! With mousse no less? And without a silicone mould!?
Build it upside down! The flat surface from the contact of the mousse with the pan creates the perfect smoothness for the top of the cake. Lining my cake ring in acetate strips before smearing the mousse across ensures that the sides will also be very smooth when I pour my glaze over the top of the cake.
Now, to have a cooperative mirror glaze, you need two things:
1- a very frozen, very dry cake. I say dry because if you live in a humid area, you’ll know that the second your cakes come out of the freezer, they get a layer of condensation on them. My recommendation is to pull your cake out at the very last second to pour your glaze before the condensating starts.
2- Make sure your ENTIRE glaze is at the proper temperature. That range is between 90*F and 95*F. I am super impatient while waiting for my temperatures to be correct (this is the main reason why I HATE tempering chocolate - I haven’t the patience to bring it up to the right temperature, then down to the correct temperature, then back up again #HURRYUP)
Also, I emphasize ENTIRE glaze, because I wasn’t patient enough and stirred and agitated my purple glaze right until my thermometer read 94.9*F. And then I poured with glee!
Except that my glaze was clearly not 94.9*F all the way throughout and melted some of the raspberry mousse which then mixed in with the glaze. Fortunately for me, my mousse is a VERY pretty color and I’m choosing to let that be my design. However, if this cake were for a client, I would definitely have to redo that section.
Did you see how satisfyingly that glaze just poured over the cake?! And how shiny and reflective it is? #SWOON I may have to do this more often. What colors/flavors do you want to see next?
Happy eating, y'all!
If you tried this dessert, or any other desserts in my blog, please share my Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram posts about them and let people know what you think! Mahalo!