I have come to the realization that I was born to be a forty-something year old woman. Sure, I’m only a year and a half into my forties, but I’m really having a good time. And I’m doing things that I would never have done when I was younger. Take this mirror cake for example– I would never have attempted this mirror cake in my twenties for fear of screwing it up, and I wouldn’t have made this mirror cake in my thirties because I was more preoccupied with having a baby, and then I was more preoccupied with getting some sleep. But I made this mirror cake in my forties. I made it three times in my forties! I made it while my oldest was throwing a basketball against the basement wall, which shook the entire house. I made it while my youngest was slapping me on my behind with a medieval, foam sword. I even made this mirror cake while sipping a very dry vodka martini. That’s how awesome my forties are.
Here’s how I did it. First I baked a graham cracker crust in the bottom of a 8-inch springform pan. I used food.com‘s recipe because it’s brown sugar sweetness has a lovely caramel flavor.
Once the graham cracker crust had cooled I smoothed on Martha Stewart’s extremely easy, and very airy raspberry mousse. I piped out the mousse first to make sure there were no gaps. Then I smoothed it out on top with an off set spatula. I then covered it in plastic wrap and placed the mousse cake in the freezer overnight.
To make the mirror glaze, I poured a hot concoction of water, sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and sweetened condensed milk over chopped white chocolate. I got this mirror glaze recipe from a fantastic food blog called Southern Fatty. He also has great mirror cake tips. The most important tip I learned is to use an immersion blender rather than patient stirring when making the glaze. The immersion blender smooths it out so beautifully, and helps to create that gorgeous mirror-like shine.
I removed the frozen mousse from the springform pan, and placed it on top of a steady glass, which which was placed in the center of a large baking sheet wrapped in plastic wrap (another Southern Fatty tip).
Once the glaze reached 90 degrees F. I had to work quickly! I had my food colors at the ready. I divided the glaze between various bowls and colored each one with the colors I chose. I recommend choosing a base color which has more glaze than the rest. I poured my base color around the top of the cake making sure it to ran down the sides.
Then I poured on the other colors over top. You don’t need to use too much of the other colors to get a nice effect. I used a large off set spatula to gently smooth it out.
Here’s another one I did… I was not happy with my color choices, but I was happy with its shine. Hey, you can see me!
- 1 cup (108 g) Graham Cracker Crumbs
- 1/3 (67 g) Light Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup (57 g) Butter, melted
- 3 TBS Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 and ¼ tsp. Gelatin Powder
- 2 cups (126 g) Raspberries, washed
- ½ cup (100 g) plus 2 TBS Sugar
- 2 cups Heavy Cream, cold
- 1/3 cup Cold Water
- 2 packets (15 g) Gelatin Powder
- 1 cup (200 g) Sugar
- 2/3 cup (200 g) Light Corn Syrup
- 1/3 cup plus 1 and ½ TBS (100 g) Water
- ½ cup (150 g) Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1 and ¼ cups (200 g) White Chocolate, chopped
- Food Coloring
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of the springform pan.
- In a bowl mix all of the ingredients together, and then press it into the bottom of the springform pan.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Place the lemon juice in a small bowl, and then sprinkle the gelatin on top. Set aside for 5 minutes. Using a blender, puree the raspberries. Strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Throw out the solid bits left in the sieve. You should be left with about ½ cup of puree.
- Cook the raspberry puree and ½ cup of sugar in a saucepan over medium. Once bubbles form around the sides then pour in the lemon juice/gelatin mixture. Stir until the gelatin dissolves completely (about 1 minute). Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes).
- In a medium-sized bowl, and using a hand-held mixer, beat the cream and 2 tablespoons of the sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the cooled raspberry puree until fully combined. You’ve got mousse!
- Fill a large piping bag with the mousse. Pipe it out on top of the cooled graham cracker crust. Use an off set spatula to smooth out the top, making sure the mousse is level. Wrap well in plastic wrap, and freeze for 12 hours, or overnight.
- Place the chopped white chocolate in a bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, heat up the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Meanwhile, bloom the gelatin in the cold water by sprinkling the powder over top and setting aside for 5 minutes. Once the sugar/water concoction comes to a boil, and the sugar has dissolved remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the gelatin until fully dissolved, and then the sweetened condensed milk.
- Pour the hot mixture over top of the chopped white chocolate. Set aside for 5 minutes. Use an immersion blender (or stir carefully and slowly) until the chocolate has melted, and the mixture is smooth.
- Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally. When the glaze reaches a temperature of 90 degrees F. it is time to act quickly. Remove the mousse cake from the freezer, and release it from the springform pan. Place on a glass on top of a plastic wrapped baking sheet. Set aside.
- Separate the glaze into bowls of how many different colors you intend to use. Dye each bowl of glaze with a color of your choice. Begin by pouring on one color (the base color) over top and around the perimeter of the cake. Once it’s completely coated in the base color, pour on the remaining colors. Gently smooth it out using an off set spatula.
- Leave the cake alone now, and give the glaze time to firm up. Once firm, refrigerate until serving. Enjoy!
- 8-inch springform pan
- Food processor
- Off set spatula
- Hand held mixer
- Seive
- Blender
- Piping bag
- Immersion blender
- Large baking sheet
- Plastic wrap
- Rubber spatula
- Candy thermometer
