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Many of the pastries found in a traditional French bakery have an outer layer of shiny glaze. This is called glaçage miroir, or mirror glaze. The main appeal of this glaze is that it's gorgeous, but it also seals the inside of the cake. So you can store your cake uncovered in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
When glazing, you always want to have surplus glacage. Running out or having to scrape out the last bit will give an uneven finish. Since glacage can be reheated repeatedly, you want to make a bulk amount and save the leftovers for future pastries. This recipe should make enough to glaze at least a dozen 10-inch entremets. You can use dark chocolate for chocolate glacage, or white chocolate for white or colored glacage.
Note that it will take quite some time to cool to pourable temperature (up to 2 hours) so you might want to make the glacage in advance.
Makes glaze for a dozen 10-inch cakes. You can halve or quarter the recipe for a smaller yield.
If making a dark chocolate glacage, you may wish to add about 100 grams of cocoa powder, which will give a darker color and richer chocolate flavor.
Bloom the gelatin in cold water. This is quite a bit of gelatin so rather than sprinkling it on top of cold water, quickly stir them together. It should be a thick slurry.
Heat the water, sugar, and condensed milk in a saucepan. Bring it just to a boil and turn off the heat. Stir in the vanilla and bloomed gelatin until it is fully dissolved.
Place the chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot liquid over it. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until the chocolate is fully melted. Using an immersion blender (or poured into a blender), process until it is very smooth. Be careful not to introduce too many bubbles since every minor imperfection will show on the surface. For the same reason, strain the glacage through a sieve to remove any stray particles.
When the glacage has cooled to 90°F (32°C), it is ready to pour over your entremets. Use a stand or cooling rack to position the entremet and collect the excess below. You can save this and use it for future pours.
Once poured over frozen entremets, the glacage will cool quickly. It will take about 15 minutes until it is fully cooled and solidified. It should be more like a soft ganache-like gel than a hard shell.
This recipe can also be used to make White Chocolate Mirror Glaze.
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