Chocolate Mirror Glaze 101
Chocolate Mirror Glaze 101
These are three chocolate mirror glaze recipes that will help you perfect your mirror glaze cakes.
Mirror glazes are a bit like a chocolate ganache but they have a much smoother and shinier finish. They’re typically used to finish frozen cakes and entremets.Â
Learning how to make a mirror glaze can seem a bit daunting, but as long as you have all the right ingredients and follow these steps closely I promise you can master the perfect shiny chocolate glaze!
First I show you how to make a classic chocolate mirror glaze. Then we level this up into a coloured mirror glaze, which uses white chocolate instead of cocoa powder, so you can create your colour of choice. Lastly I show you how to create the perfect spider web mirror glaze, which when poured over your chocolate mirror glaze creates the coolest spider web effect. I love this technique – it really levels up your dessert and creates a super professional finish.
Give these recipes a go – you’ll have the perfect glossy cakes in no time!
Want more 101 recipes? Check out Ice Cream 101 and Puff Pastry 101.
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Ingredients
Method
When making gelatin mass - you always multiply the amount of gelatin powder by 6 to get the required weight of water.
Into a medium bowl, add the cold water and tip the powdered gelatin over the top. Whisk it together then place it into the fridge for 15 minutes. It should swell up and absorb all the water.
Scoop the bloomed gelatin into a small saucepan and melt it over a very low heat.
As soon as it is melted, pour it into a container and set it in the fridge for 30 minutes. It will firm up into a jelly-like consistency. This is your gelatin mass. You can now cut cubes of it and weigh the required amount for the recipe.
Into a tall jug, add the trimoline and gelatin mass.
Add the glucose and cream into a medium saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer so it is hot. Set this to one side.
In the meantime, add the sugar and water to a saucepan, and cook it over medium heat until it reaches 120C/248F on a digital thermometer.
Once at temperature, immediately pour in the hot cream mixture and then whisk in the cocoa powder.
Whisk it until it comes back to a boil.
Remove it from the heat and pour it through a sieve, into the tall jug over the trimoline and gelatin mass.
Use a hand blender to blend until smooth, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate overnight (minimum of 12 hours).
The next day, place the jug into the microwave and heat in bursts until half of the mixture has melted to a liquid. Blend again until smooth, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Allow it to cool and use the glaze at around 35C.
Into a tall jug, add the gelatin mass, white chocolate and condensed milk. Set this to one side.
In the mean time, add the sugar, glucose and water to a small saucepan and cook it to 103C/217F.
As soon as it is at temperature, pour it over the white chocolate mixture.
Add your desired food colouring (you can also split this into multiple jugs to make different colours), and blend until smooth, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Cover the surface directly with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of 12 hours)
The next day, melt the glaze in the microwave, until it is half solid, and half liquid. Use a hand blender to blend it, again, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Allow it to cool and use it at a temperature of around 28C.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar (A) and pectin. Set to one side.
In a small pan, add the glucose, water and sugar (B) and heat it to 40C.
Once at temperature, whisk in the pectin mixture slowly and continue to cook until it comes to a boil and there are no lumps.
Stir in the citric acid and bring it to a gentle simmer for 4 minutes.
Remove it from the heat and whisk in the fat-soluble food colour of your choice.
To use this, allow it to cool to between 55-70C (the hotter it is, the wider the spread of the web will be). This is really best used fresh but if it does cool it will set so you will need to remelt it in the microwave and blend it again. If you find it goes lumpy, then pass it through a sieve.
Pour your chocolate or coloured mirror glaze onto the frozen dessert, then immediately pour the spider web mirror glaze onto the back of a spatula and spread this quickly across the top of the mirror glaze.
Sometimes it can take a little experimenting to find out what the best temperature is use your mirror glaze, so this can take some trial and error. As well as looking at the temperature, look at the consistency when you swirl it in the jug. If it seems very fluid and fast, then it is probably too warm. If it is very sluggish and thick then it is most likely too cold. I always recommend trying a test glaze first on a small frozen dessert just to check if the temperature is correct.
If you have a different strength of gelatin powder, you can use the table below to convert it. For example, you may have 200 bloom gelatin, but this recipe calls for 250 bloom. In which case you would need to convert the amount of gelatin by 1.27x to create the gelatin mass.
1.27 x 30 = 38g
38 x 6 = 228g
So to make the gelatin mass you would need 38g Powdered Gelatin (200 Bloom) + 228g Cold Water
Ingredients
Directions
When making gelatin mass - you always multiply the amount of gelatin powder by 6 to get the required weight of water.
Into a medium bowl, add the cold water and tip the powdered gelatin over the top. Whisk it together then place it into the fridge for 15 minutes. It should swell up and absorb all the water.
Scoop the bloomed gelatin into a small saucepan and melt it over a very low heat.
As soon as it is melted, pour it into a container and set it in the fridge for 30 minutes. It will firm up into a jelly-like consistency. This is your gelatin mass. You can now cut cubes of it and weigh the required amount for the recipe.
Into a tall jug, add the trimoline and gelatin mass.
Add the glucose and cream into a medium saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer so it is hot. Set this to one side.
In the meantime, add the sugar and water to a saucepan, and cook it over medium heat until it reaches 120C/248F on a digital thermometer.
Once at temperature, immediately pour in the hot cream mixture and then whisk in the cocoa powder.
Whisk it until it comes back to a boil.
Remove it from the heat and pour it through a sieve, into the tall jug over the trimoline and gelatin mass.
Use a hand blender to blend until smooth, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate overnight (minimum of 12 hours).
The next day, place the jug into the microwave and heat in bursts until half of the mixture has melted to a liquid. Blend again until smooth, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Allow it to cool and use the glaze at around 35C.
Into a tall jug, add the gelatin mass, white chocolate and condensed milk. Set this to one side.
In the mean time, add the sugar, glucose and water to a small saucepan and cook it to 103C/217F.
As soon as it is at temperature, pour it over the white chocolate mixture.
Add your desired food colouring (you can also split this into multiple jugs to make different colours), and blend until smooth, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Cover the surface directly with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of 12 hours)
The next day, melt the glaze in the microwave, until it is half solid, and half liquid. Use a hand blender to blend it, again, avoiding adding any air bubbles.
Allow it to cool and use it at a temperature of around 28C.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar (A) and pectin. Set to one side.
In a small pan, add the glucose, water and sugar (B) and heat it to 40C.
Once at temperature, whisk in the pectin mixture slowly and continue to cook until it comes to a boil and there are no lumps.
Stir in the citric acid and bring it to a gentle simmer for 4 minutes.
Remove it from the heat and whisk in the fat-soluble food colour of your choice.
To use this, allow it to cool to between 55-70C (the hotter it is, the wider the spread of the web will be). This is really best used fresh but if it does cool it will set so you will need to remelt it in the microwave and blend it again. If you find it goes lumpy, then pass it through a sieve.
Pour your chocolate or coloured mirror glaze onto the frozen dessert, then immediately pour the spider web mirror glaze onto the back of a spatula and spread this quickly across the top of the mirror glaze.
Sometimes it can take a little experimenting to find out what the best temperature is use your mirror glaze, so this can take some trial and error. As well as looking at the temperature, look at the consistency when you swirl it in the jug. If it seems very fluid and fast, then it is probably too warm. If it is very sluggish and thick then it is most likely too cold. I always recommend trying a test glaze first on a small frozen dessert just to check if the temperature is correct.
If you have a different strength of gelatin powder, you can use the table below to convert it. For example, you may have 200 bloom gelatin, but this recipe calls for 250 bloom. In which case you would need to convert the amount of gelatin by 1.27x to create the gelatin mass.
1.27 x 30 = 38g
38 x 6 = 228g
So to make the gelatin mass you would need 38g Powdered Gelatin (200 Bloom) + 228g Cold Water
Very clear and easy to understand,. Thank you so much ,. This has been been very helpful
Thank you!
Love the detailed layout. However, I would like to know the reason behind making a gelatin mass I stead of regular bloomed gelatin and the over night chilling as well.
Hw abt gelatin sheet chef
2.5g powdered gelatin is roughly 1 sheet
Wow, thank you so much for sharing such a detailed recipe and all the little techniques and skills necessary to make these very nice mirror glazes! So beautiful!
You’re very welcome!