My first Mirror Glaze Cake to celebrate my favourite day of the year – my birthday. What do you think? I am aiming for some refreshing summer dessert, a mixture of sweet and sour with all the ingredients I love: classic vanilla sponge, filled with fine homemade currant jelly, whipped cream, topped up with my sexy almond buttercream and beautifully shiny pink mirror glaze. What’s not to love?
Shopping List
Homemade Currant Jelly
1 kg of fresh red currants, washed
Caster superfine sugar
The Sponge Cake as per in my Dutch Vanilla Classic Recipe
175g of butter, soft in cubes
175g of raw sugar
3 whole eggs
1 teaspoon of good quality vanilla extract
175g of plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon of baking powder without phosphate, sifted
The Filling
45g of sweetened instant whipped cream
150ml of milk
½ jar of homemade currant jelly
The Almond Buttercream Topping as per in my Luxurious Ferrero Rocher Cake Recipe
100g butter, soft in cubes
A pinch of sea salt
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds extracted
150g of icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons of almond flour, sifted
A splash of milk of milk
The Mirror Glaze
100g caster superfine sugar
40ml water
40g sweetened condensed milk
120g of white chocolate
4g of clear powder gelatine
1/4 teaspoon of good quality pink colouring (I used ROSADO Wilton)
Final Decoration
Macarones, shaving of white chocolate, sugar pearls, fresh flowers or buttercream
Instructions
Homemade Currant Jelly
I was gifted with some red and white currants. Because I was a bit lazy, I decided to ease my job and create a very fast currant jelly.
Put all the washed currants (I’ve separated red and white ones) in a medium non sticking pan casserole on high heat. Cook them for about 5 minutes until they release the juice and soften a bit.
Next, sieve them into a small deep pan. By using a spatula press the fruit to get all the juice through. Next on medium heat, flavour up with some caster sugar.
Taste and taste.
Let it simmer until the sugar is dissolved completely and the jelly thickens, for about 5 more minutes.
Mold the jelly into a clean glass jar and close it tightly. Let it cool down entirely.
Note that the amount of jelly you get from 1kg of fruits is not that much, approximately ½ small jar. However, this is an incredibly fine and smooth jelly ideal for impressive desserts. Use it fresh and do not bake it. Especially good for pairing with rolls, biscuits, cookies, cakes, pancakes, creams or ice creams. No limits to imagination.
I personally love the sweetness of white jelly layered on a fresh bread, just like that. The sourness of red currant jelly is more suitable for filling up sweet desserts. Get inspired!
The Sponge
Presentation
Whip the cream into peaks and take your jelly to fill up the cake.
Remove the extras of the cake to make it really smooth. If you must, brush the crumbs away.
Place a bit of cream onto your serving plate and start layering the cake.
The sponge goes first, then, layer of the jelly, around ½ of the small jar. Pipe the whipped cream over the top and gently close with the second sponge. Smoothen the sides with cake smoothers and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
The Almond Buttercream Topping
This very buttercream is inspired by Chetna’s Makan Ferrero Rocher Cake, and it is one of my top favorite buttercreams. I repeat, I am not so much into sweets, but this buttercream sells it all: the right sweetness, the scrumptious creaminess and the taste is to die for.
Ease the butter in a medium mixing bowl and add a pinch of sea salt.
Stir in the vanilla and start adding the icing sugar, half at a time.
Next, add almond flour to the mixture and give it a good stir. In the finale, pour in just little bit of milk and whisk. Taste and set aside until further processing. Do not refrigerate, otherwise the buttercream thickens quickly.
Take the cake out of the fridge and place a generous layer of buttercream over the top and sides of the cake. So yummy already now!
Smoothen with cake smoothers and refrigerate for at least 2 hours until The Buttercream thickens. In case of a Mirror Glaze Cake, the best is to freeze them before you pour The Glaze over them. It really depends on the type of cakes. Some cakes taste best fresh, so freezing them would reduce the quality. However, the appearance would be more effective perhaps. I always put the taste at first.
The Mirror Glaze
Firstly, mold gelatine into a cup with lukewarm water, around ⅓ of its volume. Let it bubble for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, put all the ingredients into a small deep pan: sugar, water and condensed milk. Cook for about 3 minutes on medium heat up to the boiling point. Then, take off the heat and stir in the gelatine. Mix with a balloon whisk until nicely smooth.
Next, add white chocolate and let it sit for about 1 minute. Gently mix with a spatula and mold it through a sifter into a medium metal bowl.
The crucial point is to let the glaze sit until it gets a body temperature around 36 degrees.
Afterwards, divide the glaze into 3 small mixing bowls and keep a bit in another bowl plain white. Add a bit of food colouring into each of the 3 bowls to create different pink colours. Mix well.
Then, take a clean bowl and start adding the glaze: pouring half of the bowl from the darkest colour to a plain white. Repeat the procedure.
Place the chilled cake onto a rack and pour The Glaze over it, starting from the middle, continuing to the sides. Let it dry for a couple of minutes until the mirror glaze cake stops dripping. Gently refrigerate for at least few hours, so the taste comes within and connects all the beauty.
Final Mirror Glaze Cake Decoration
I have prepared some homemade cookies, macarones like. Fill them up with some delicious almond buttercream or chocolate ganache.
Scrape some chocolate shavings with a cheese cutter. You can also grate the chocolate directly onto the cake. What you can also do is to drizzle some melted chocolate over the cake and use fresh flowers to decorate as per in my Celebration Cake Recipe.
You can decorate with fresh fruits or keep it plain to underline The Mirror Glaze effect. No limits to imagination. Enjoy with your beloved and slice into heaven. Great pairing with some fresh lemonade or a glass of bubbly.
Makes 10 serves.
