Glazes

Sadie · **Joined:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:07 pm **Posts:** 413

Help! Can anyone tell me how to make a glaze that stays nice and thick like the ones you see on the bundt cakes in the gourmet coffee shops? I tried a new recipe yesterday to use up my leftover pumpkin puree from Thanksgiving, and the cake had a lovely orange rosemary glaze dribbled over top. In the picture the glaze was nice and thick, but I couldn't get mine to look anything like the one in the picture. The recipe called for 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh rosemary and orange peel, and 2 cups of icing sugar. I added an extra cup of icing sugar but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I make white glazes for cakes all the time, and have the same problem. They're translucent. I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong, and how you get one of those thick white glazes that looks like melting snow. Thanks.

Sadie

P.S. I make sure the cake is stone cold before I add the glaze, unless it's one of the thin ones that's supposed to be absorbed by the cake.

CarolynB · **Posted:** Fri Oct 17, 2003 10:49 am

Sadie, I find that most glaze recipes are too thin for me too. I love to see the thicker (but not too thick!) drizzle run down the cakes. I never use all the liquid called for in a recipe at one time. I add it slowly and stop when the consistency seems just right. Granted, some drizzles come out looking better than others because there's not an exact amount of liquid I'm putting in there. For example, the orange glaze that goes over the Fresh Orange Cake (CMD1) is too thin (for me) using 3 TBSP OJ. I start with 1-1/2 TBSP and then add a few drops at a time from the rest of the second TBSP. I've never used more than 2. Looking at the ingredients of the glaze you used, I think 1/4 cup juice could be a little much. Next time just add a little at a time.

Sadie · **Joined:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:07 pm **Posts:** 413

Thanks, Carolyn. The recipe said to add the icing sugar to the OJ in a bowl, and I usually do the opposite. It seemed like a lot of juice for the 2 cups of sugar, so I added the extra cup of icing sugar to make it thicker, but didn't want to add any more because I had a lot of glaze at that point!! This recipe was from a Canadian magazine and supposedly had been "kitchen tested", but there's no way the glaze in the picture was made using the recipe measures. Actually, the whole cake was disappointing. Your suggestion will help when it comes to other bundts, and I seem to make a lot of them!

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Good morning all: I make so many bundt cakes, anymore. I wonder if others do, also? They have so many new shapes.

Laura C · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:01 am

Sadie,

I've found that substituting corn syrup for some of the liquid called for makes my glazes thicker. Or, try melting some butter and using that in place of some of the liquid.

Sadie · **Joined:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:07 pm **Posts:** 413

Thanks, Laura. I'll try corn syrup in the frosting for a kahlua chocolate bundt cake I'm making this week. The melted butter sounds like a good idea too. I'll test it another time.

Regina · **Posted:** Tue Oct 21, 2003 7:55 am

Sadie, here is recipe you might try, it's a thick icing, not a glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 T light corn syrup
2 t fresh lemon juice
1/4 t vanilla
1 T water
Stir together sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla and water in a small bowl till smooth and put on cake, or cookies.
Regina

Sadie · **Joined:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:07 pm **Posts:** 413

Hi Regina, Great timing! I made a chocolate zucchini bundt cake last night and wanted to drizzle it with something this morning before I take it into work. I'll try your icing on it. Thanks. Sadie

BarbaraMc · **Posted:** Thu Oct 23, 2003 10:12 am

Hi Sadie - For a whiter frosting, try using cream cheese as a base.

Sadie · **Joined:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:07 pm **Posts:** 413

Thanks for the suggestion, Barbara. I tried a cream cheese drizzle the other day, and it stayed nice and white and fairly thick. My only hesitation with the cream cheese is that it needs to be refrigerated, and I prefer room temperature cakes for the most part. (I put the drizzle on some cinnamon bun type biscuits and also some scones, and now I can't heat them!) I've checked with a few people and we all seem to have the same result with our thin icings...they are translucent, and if you cover the cake, the icing seems to liquify and disappear. I see bundt and tube cakes in the coffeeshops all the time with the kind of drizzled icing I'm looking for, so it must be doable. Years ago when I was young, my mother used to buy a Chelsea loaf that had a lovely thick white, almost chewy, icing on it, and the icing stayed just that way for a few days. That's what I'm looking for!! Sadie

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Sadie, any way that you could talk with someone, who works in one of the bakeries, who make the cakes you mentioned? They may get their icing in a very large can, but maybe, surely, someone knows someone whose brain you might pick a little bit just for a non commercial use. Just a thought for whatever it's worth. I know there is one lady who has a standing bet with her hubby that before they leave a restaurant she will be able to get at least one recipe from the chef. She said over the years she had won the bet about half the time, so who knows? :wink:

Sadie · **Joined:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:07 pm **Posts:** 413

That's a good idea Mary K. I work with a pastry chef, but even he hasn't been that helpful. I'm not giving up on my "mission", though. Sadie

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Hi you all: Jessica, you are right. Thanks for reminding us. I found a recipe for a lemon filling for sweet rolls, and I guess it could be used in between cake layers, and after you cook part of it, then you set it aside, and mix sugar and the cream cheese(I would say probably cream the two together) and then add a beaten raw egg, and I believe some lemon juice. You aren't supposed to cook it after that point, but I would really be afraid of using it like that. I don't like the idea of eating raw egg. What do you all think. I thought it would be fine without the egg. There just has to be a better way. The recipe sounded good up to that point.

ana · **Posted:** Thu Oct 23, 2003 3:18 pm

Hi Sadie,

I know that a lot of people here doctor the store bought frostings - the glaze that I like best for bundt cakes starts with 1/2 a can of the store bought stuff. Just heat it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and drizze over your cake. Stays thick and white and tastes really good.
I doctor it by adding a few melted cinnamon or butterscoth chips for flavour or you could also add lemon or orange zest depending on the cake.

ana

Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Hi ana: I often do the same thing. Most of the frostings are not that great, in my opinion without help. If I have a little bit of different flavors, oh say like strawberry and cream cheese, I have been known to mix them, and it works quite well, and gets both of them used and out of the fridge.

Glazes

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