Image is for illustrative purposes only.
This is a bright, tart red currant mirror glaze, made the way a fruit glaze is built in a professional kitchen: the fruit is boiled out with water, sugar and glucose, thickened lightly with starch, sharpened with lemon juice and citric acid, then set with gelatine so it holds a clean, glossy skin over a frozen mousse cake.
Poured at the right temperature it runs off in a thin, even sheet and sets to a mirror finish with a deep red colour and a clean, sharp berry flavour that cuts through rich white chocolate, vanilla or cream mousses. It is good for entremets, mousse cakes, glazed slices and individual desserts, and it can be made ahead and warmed again when you need it.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
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Weight Per Unit: 774
Number of Units: 2
Unit Size: 20 cm round mousse cake, poured and glazed
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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600 |
2.5 cups
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Water
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B
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200 |
7 ounces
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Frozen Red Currants
Red currants are small, translucent red berries with a sharp, clean acidity and a light berry perfume. They are usually sold frozen on or off the stalk, and frozen fruit works perfectly well in cooked glazes and sauces because the berries break down as they heat.
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frozen |
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C
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400 |
14.1 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
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D
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200 |
7 ounces
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Glucose Syrup
Glucose syrup, also known as confectioner's glucose, is a syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch. Glucose is a sugar. Maize (corn) is commonly used as the source of the starch in the US, in which case the syrup is called "corn syrup", but glucose syrup is also made from potatoes and wheat, and less often from barley, rice and cassava.
Glucose syrup containing over 90% glucose is used in industrial fermentation, but syrups used in confectionery contain varying amounts of glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade, and can typically contain 10% to 43% glucose. Glucose syrup is used in foods to sweeten, soften texture and add volume. By converting some of the glucose in corn syrup into fructose (using an enzymatic process), a sweeter product, high fructose corn syrup can be produced.
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E
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15 |
1 tablespoon
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Fresh Lemon Juice
Fresh lemon juice is the juice squeezed from whole lemons and strained of seeds and pulp. It gives a natural sharpness and aroma that bottled juice cannot match, and roughly three medium lemons will yield the amount needed here.
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strained |
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F
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25 |
0.9 ounce
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Modified Starch
Modified starch is a corn or tapioca starch that has been treated so it thickens smoothly and stays stable when acid, sugar and freezing are involved. In a glaze it gives body and shine without becoming cloudy or watery; plain corn starch can be used instead, though the set will be a little softer.
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G
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25 |
0.9 ounce
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Pure Icing Sugar
Pure icing sugar is also made from pulverised granulated sugar but contains no cornflour. For everyday cooking, icing sugar mixture does the trick; the only place where pure icing sugar is a must is when making royal icing, modelling fondant and the like.
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sifted |
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H
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40 |
1.4 ounces
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Gelatin
Gelatin or gelatine (from Latin: gelatus meaning "stiff", "frozen") is a translucent, colourless, brittle (when dry), flavourless foodstuff, derived from collagen obtained from various animal by-products. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, pharmaceuticals, photography, and cosmetic manufacturing. Substances containing gelatin or functioning in a similar way are called gelatinous. Gelatin is an irreversibly hydrolyzed form of collagen. It is found in most gummy candy as well as other products such as marshmallows, gelatin dessert, and some ice cream, dip and yogurt. Household gelatin comes in the form of sheets, granules, or powder. Instant types can be added to the food as they are; others need to be soaked in water beforehand.
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I
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40 |
1.4 fluid_ounces
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Water
for soaking the gelatine
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cold |
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J
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2 |
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Citric Acid
Citric acid is the natural acid found in lemons and other citrus fruit, sold as fine white crystals or powder. A small pinch sharpens the flavour of sugar syrups and helps stop them crystallising during storage.
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1547
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
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The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Prepare |
Sprinkle H (gelatine powder) over I (cold water) in a small bowl and leave it to swell. If the gelatine drinks up all the water and stays powdery in places, add a little extra cold water so it hydrates evenly. |
Gelatine fully swollen and spongy, no dry powder left |
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2 |
Mix |
Whisk F and G (modified starch and icing sugar) together in a small bowl, then stir in a few spoonfuls of cold water taken from A (water) to make a smooth slurry. |
Smooth and lump free |
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3 |
Boil |
Put the remaining A, B, C and D (water, frozen red currants, caster sugar and glucose syrup) into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar and glucose have dissolved. |
Berries collapsed and the syrup clear and boiling |
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4 |
Thicken |
Stir the starch slurry once more and whisk it into the boiling fruit syrup. Cook for about a minute, stirring constantly. |
Lightly thickened and glossy, no raw starch taste |
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5 |
Flavour |
Take the pan off the heat and stir in E and J (fresh lemon juice and citric acid). |
Citric acid fully dissolved |
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6 |
Strain |
Pass the hot glaze through a fine sieve into a clean jug or bowl, pressing the fruit to get the pulp through and leaving the skins and seeds behind. |
Smooth, seed free liquid |
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7 |
Dissolve |
Stir the swollen gelatine into the hot glaze until it has completely melted, then adjust the colour with Red Food Colouring (red food colouring), adding it a drop at a time. |
No specks of gelatine visible; an even, deep red colour |
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8 |
Rest |
Cover the surface with cling film touching the glaze and leave it to cool. If bubbles have formed, blend briefly with a stick blender held below the surface, then skim the foam. |
No skin and no bubbles on the surface |
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9 |
Glaze |
Warm the glaze back to about 30–35°C and pour it over a frozen mousse cake set on a rack over a tray, working from the centre outwards in one continuous pour. |
Glaze flows in a thin even sheet and stops dripping within a minute or two |
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10 |
Set |
Lift the cake off the rack, trim the drips at the base and transfer it to a board or plate. Refrigerate. |
Glaze set to a firm, shiny mirror that is dry to a light touch |
Important Notes
This batch makes about 1,547 g of glaze, enough for roughly two 20 cm mousse cakes once you allow for the run-off, which is normal with any poured glaze. The cake being glazed must be frozen solid and dry on the surface, or the glaze will slide off instead of setting.
Pouring temperature matters more than anything else: too hot and it runs off too thin, too cold and it sits in thick waves. Aim for about 30–35°C. Collect the run-off from the tray, strain it and keep it for the next cake. The glaze keeps in a sealed container in the fridge for about a week, or frozen for longer; warm it gently over a water bath or in short microwave bursts, never boiling it again.
The sheet does not give a quantity for the red colouring, so add it to taste; the fruit alone gives a natural but fairly pale red.
Tools & Arrangements
Medium saucepan, whisk, small bowls, fine sieve, heatproof jug, stick blender, digital thermometer, cling film, wire rack set over a deep tray, palette knife.
