Although mirror glaze has been around for a long time, social media has heightened its allure by marbling it with modern color

By DEBORAH MISIK for the Flathead Beacon

Mirror glazed cakes are all the rage right now. Although mirror glaze has been around for a long time, social media has heightened its allure by marbling it with modern colors.

In the cake pictured, I used purple as my main color, and then blended blue, purple, white and black to highlight the purple.

When pouring the glaze on the cake, it is important that the cake is frozen and smoothly frosted to allow the glaze to settle in a flat fashion and adhere to the cake.

Ingredients

• 4-1/2 cups granulated sugar

• 3 cups sweetened condensed milk

• 1-1/2 cups + 3 Tbsp. water

• 8.25 tsp. gelatin powder

• 1-1/2 cups cold water

• 6 cups white chocolate chips (high quality, such as Valrhona brand)

• Gel food coloring of choice (not water-based)

• 10-inch cake of any flavor, frosted very smoothly and frozen for 3 hours. (American or Swiss buttercream frostings work best. Neither cream cheese nor whipped cream icings are recommended.)

Instructions

1. Add the sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and water to a medium-sized saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

2. Pour the cold water into the powdered gelatin and mix with a spoon. Leave to swell for a few minutes.

3. When the sugar, milk and water mixture begins to simmer, remove from the heat and add the swelled gelatin. Stir with a whisk until the gelatin has dissolved.

4. Pour the hot liquid on top of the white chocolate chips and let sit for 5 minutes to melt.

5. Use a whisk to stir the glaze until the chocolate has completely melted. Flavor can be added to the glaze if desired.

6. Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer.

7. Separate glaze into containers to color.

8. Add the gel food coloring and stir until well mixed. Leave the glaze to cool to 90 degrees.

9. In a large bucket or bowl, add main color of glaze. In the center of that glaze, pour the next color and so on until all colors have been poured into the bucket. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t see the colors … it will marble as you begin to pour.

10. Place cake on a pedestal smaller than the cake so the sides have nothing under them. Place a pan underneath the pedestal to catch the glaze.

11. Pour glaze generously over frozen, smoothly frosted cake.

12. As you pour into the center top of the cake, the glaze will begin to marble. Be sure the glaze covered the sides. Keep pouring until you have a covered the cake entirely.

13. Leave the glaze to set for 15 minutes before using a spatula to remove the drips

14. Transfer the cake to the fridge to set for a few hours before serving.

Chef Deborah Misik is a baking and pastry arts instructor at The Culinary Institute of Montana at Flathead Valley Community College. She is a Certified Executive Pastry Chef and a Certified Culinary Educator through the American Culinary Federation. For more information about the Culinary Institute of Montana at FVCC, visit www.culinaryinstituteofmt.com.