Chocolate and White Chocolate Mirror Glaze

Working around fondant......

Decorated cakes and themed cakes are really easy to plan and make with fondant..because its basically like play dough..and you can make whatever you want with it... it also gives your cakes a lot of stability, especially if you want to carry your cake someplace else..where in it wont have refrigeration while travelling...whipped cream cake can really melt in such conditions in the heat that we experience over here...

But what do you do if you don't like the taste of fondant..or if fondant is not easily available..In My case i really don't like the taste of fondant, i wouldn't mind a few tiny fondant roses on top if my cake..that too would be put aside while eating...so covering the whole cake with fondant is pointless..as no one in my house or near and dears like fondant...a cake should have just the rite amount of sweetness and it should be fresh and soft...covering it with chewy fondant in my opinion is waste of a good cake...

so anyways the question arises as to what can be used to cover the cake and give it a smooth appearance to make successful themed cakes....and the answer is mirror glaze..

its easy, its cheap, and its tasty, and your cake looks great, and your cake gets stability.

for smaller floral decorations, i found that you can make flowers our of marshmallows which i tried suceesfully and gummy candy too..which is on my next to try list(the list btw is never ending)

  

chocolate mirror glaze with fondant roses and marshmallow flowers

I finally found my answer in chocolate mirror glaze - it like the best thing possible, tastes like chocolate sauce and it actually gives stability to your cake, similar to fondant, and your cake decorations don't spoil on touch (as it would in case of buttercream or whipped cream).

And you can make either a chocolate or white chocolate version depending on the theme of your cake

3D car cake with coloured white chocolate glaze..

I followed the recipe more or less, but reduced the sugar quite a bit as that is my personal preference

Ingredients:-

10 g powdered gelatin ( about two tsp)
150 g sugar (100 g for white chocolate glaze)
100 g water
65 g cocoa powder ( 50 g milk powder - optional - for white chocolate glaze )
65 g fresh cream or heavy cream (75 g for white chocolate glaze)
50 g dark chocolate / white chocolate

Method:- 

In a medium-sized bowl, bloom the gelatin in plenty of cold water. Let the gelatin bloom for at least 10 minutes before using.
 Bring the sugar, water, cocoa powder, and Heavy cream to a boil while stirring constantly.
When it comes to a boil, stir in the chocolate and mix until dissolved.
Squeeze the excess water off the bloomed gelatin, add it to the pot, and stir until dissolved.
Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, or use an immersion blender to blend the mixture until it is smooth and glossy ( if your mixture already looks smmoth and glossy the you can skip this step)
Transfer the chocolate glaze mixture to a jar, and cover the surface of the chocolate glaze with plastic wrap.
Chill in the refrigerator overnight before using.

When you’re to use it, warm the chocolate glaze to the temperature between 44°(microwaving it for short bursts at medium high , gets the desired result ) before using it. If you do get a a lot of air bubbles in the glaze, strain it through a fine mesh strainer before using, otherwise the tiny bubbles will show on the finished cake.
NOTE It is always necessary to make more glaze than needed, because the entire cake needs to be covered with glaze. As the glaze is poured over the cake, some will pour off, resulting in an even coat. You can rescue some of the dripped off glaze to reuse later and pass it through a fine-mesh sieve.
this glaze can be stored in the refrigerator for more than a month, and can be reused.

My little one's 3rd birthday cake !!!

personally i like the chocolate glaze better than the white chocolate glaze..but this could be because, i'm not a big fan of white chocolate, plus the white chocolate available was not of the best quality...but stability wise they both worked great.....

Coffee mousse cake with marbled glaze for the anniversary !!