I didn't have enough white chocolate
for the original recipe I wanted to try,
and even tho Neal offered to pick up some of the
Lindt white chocolate bars at Walgreens when he went for his
flu and Omicron vaccinations, I realized I would need *eight* of them
at $2.00 each. Nope, not for experimentation purposes!
So I looked on the 'net for a mirror glaze recipe without chocolate;
I found a really simple one that made a transparent mirror glaze,
and I thought I could color it, even with two or three colors.
HOWEVER (and isn't there always a HOWEVER?),
a few drops of WHITE coloring should be added
to make the transparent glaze opaque.
There's no WHITE in the box of 16 colorings I have.
In addition, the recipe said to "pre-soak the gelatin until you need it";
I put it in 1/4 cup of cold water; should've probably been two tablespoons,
because it did not entirely "bloom" in that much water.
Work station, ready to divide the transparent glaze and color it . . .
OK, so I tossed that, ordered a bottle of WHITE coloring (which is rather an oxymoron)
and tried the next recipe I had printed out: CHOCOLATE MIRROR GLAZE.
Just what we needed - more chocolate.
But I had all the ingredients and it worked ok,
although I had to put it through a sieve to get out the cocoa lumps.
Work station for the glaze that worked. I planned to glaze just half
of the cake, which is the purpose of the cut-up
parchment paper up at the left corner. Sort of a yin/yang effect.
We'll see how THAT worked out;
SPOILER ALERT! Not very well.
The cake came out of the springform pan easily; I will, tho,
have to keep it on the bottom part and remember NOT to cut into it . . .
Aaaaaand this is what it looks like from the side . . .
Here ya go . . . have a bite . . .
NTS: Smooth the top of whatever you're going to pour a mirror glaze over.
This cake was in the freezer so all those bumps are permanent.
So much for yin/yang . . .
Notice all the leftover glaze on the cookie sheet . . .
I thought I'd be real smart and scoop it up to frost
the rest of the cake with it, not realizing how quickly the gelatin was setting . . .
Well, GLITTER covers a lot of imperfections, so here goes . . .
. . . altho if I'd been thinking more clearly, I SHOULD have used
some of the candy corn Neal brought home this morning;
wouldn't that've looked lovely on the chocolate?
By 8 p.m. tonight, the cake will have thawed enough to try;
I'm afraid the chocolate mirror glaze will be overwhelming,
but we shall see. Stand by for Taste Tester #1's opinion.
LATER THAT EVENING ADDENDUM:
As I thought it might, the chocolate glaze overwhelmed the flavor of the mousse;
I scraped it off and enjoyed the strawberry and the chocolate mousse by themselves;
Neat ate it all.
I've not yet decided if the cake and the glaze are keepers;
I'm sure there are better recipes out there to try.
ELIZABETH WALTERS:
That is really impressive! What a major undertaking.
MARCELLA GARZA:
Looks yummy!
BOB ANDERSON:
I must say it looks sooooo good! A perfect Valentine's Day surprise . . . The side view looks like it was from a gourmet baking book! Beautiful!
JACKIE McGUINNESS
in England:
That looked very nice. I would have made a lime jelly for the glaze; strawberries and lime go very well together.
LINDA SMITH:
Looks like fun!
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