Make this show-stopping Mirror Glaze Cheesecake when you really want to impress! A simple no bake white chocolate cheesecake is transformed with a topping of colourful mirror glaze.
Check out How to Mirror Glaze a Cake post!
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Are you feeling like creating something truly spectacular to impress your mum this Mother’s Day?
I have just the recipe for you… this mirror glaze white chocolate cheesecake is a real showstopper but actually perfectly easy to achieve. And just to prove my point I even made a video to walk you through it 😉
WHAT IS A MIRROR GLAZE?
A mirror glaze is a shiny glaze that’s poured over desserts to give them a stunning glossy and mirror-like sheen. It is usually made with white chocolate, condensed milk and gelatine.
Mirror glaze is tinted using gel food colouring – when poured over the dessert it creates a beautiful marbled effect.
Not all desserts are suitable for mirror glaze – it is best for mousse cakes, entremets and cheesecakes.
In this recipe I have used a white chocolate cheesecake as the base for my mirror glaze dessert. No-bake cheesecakes are one of the easiest desserts in the world, provided you build the chilling time – which is essential – into your recipe.
They are best made the day before you want to serve them so that they can firm up in the fridge overnight.
Mirror Glaze Ingredients
- Sugar, water and glucose (or corn syrup)
- Powdered gelatine
- Sweetened condensed milk
- White chocolate – ideally good quality white chocolate chips or a bar cut into very small pieces
- Food coloring in a variety of strong tints – my favourite brand is Americolor
- White Lustre powder (Sugarflair is my preferred brand)
The glaze is tinted an overall base colour and then divided into smaller bowls which are tinted in contrasting colours. Then you basically can unleash your inner painter and go wild – the colours will bleed together to create the most amazing effect.
ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR PERFECT MIRROR GLAZE
- Digital Thermometer
- Digital scales – I use a scale for all my bakes but it is especially useful for mastering tricky skills like macarons or mirror cakes
- Measuring spoons
- Immersion blender (optional) for blending the glaze
- Fine strainer for getting rid of any lumps
- Palette knife – for scraping the glaze as it drips off the cake
- Cake lifter – for transferring cakes / cheesecakes safely
Further reading on mirror glaze
• My mirror glaze is based on this post How to make a mirror glazed cake by Southern Fatty.
• This article from the Independent has a slightly different technique in the embedded video.
• For inspiration, take a look at these drop-dead gorgeous creations from Olga Noskova who made mirror glazed cakes a phenomenon.
Have you made my mirror glaze cheesecake recipe? Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes. I can’t wait to see your take on it!
Mirror glaze white chocolate cheesecake
Ingredients
For the cheesecake
- 250 g | 9oz digestive biscuits or Graham crackers roughly chopped
- 100 g | 3 1/2oz unsalted butter melted
- 560 g 20oz (2 packes) full fat cream cheese
- 80 g | 3oz caster sugar
- 200 g | 7oz good quality white chocolate chopped into small pieces
- 100 ml | 3 1/2 fl oz double heavy cream whipped to soft peaks
- seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla paste
For the mirror glaze
- 2 tbsp powdered gelatine
- 80 ml | 1/3 cup cold water
- 200 g | 7oz granulated sugar
- 200 g | 7oz corn syrup
- 100 ml | 3 1/2 fl oz water
- 150 g | 5.3oz sweetened condensed milk
- 200 g | 7oz white chocolate chopped into small pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- selection of soft gel paste food colours
- lustre powder optional
Instructions
- Grease a 20cm (8in) springform cake tin with a little butter and line the bottom and sides with greaseproof paper. For really neat edges you can line the sides with food grade acetate.
- Put the biscuits in a food processor and blitz until powdered. Add the melted butter and mix together thoroughly.
- Pour the biscuits into your prepared tin and press down to create an even base. Chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
- Melt white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir until smooth, take off the heat and set aside to cool.
- Put the vanilla seeds or paste, cream cheese and sugar in a bowl and beat together using a hand or stand mixer.
- Pour in the melted white chocolate and beat to combine.
- Fold in the whisked cream and pour into the prepared tin over the base.
- Level with a palette knife. Place cling film (plastic wrap) over the surface and chill in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.
- The following day remove the cheesecake from the springform tin, peel off the greaseproof paper off the sides but keep the cake tin base on. Transfer to the freezer for two hours, or longer.
- Put the powdered gelatine in a small bowl and add the cold water. Allow it to ‘bloom’ – it will swell and become almost solid. Set aside.
- Put the sugar, corn syrup and water into a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves.
- Take off the heat and stir in the gelatine.
- Add the condensed milk and vanilla extract and stir until smooth.
- Put the chopped chocolate into a bowl and pour the hot mixture over it. Allow it to sit for a couple of minutes then stir slowly using a balloon whisk. Start from the centre and increase your stirring motion outwards until the glaze is completely smooth.
- Add a small amount of your base colour into the glaze and stir until smooth. Adjust until you are happy with the colour.
- Pour a small amount of the glaze into three smaller bowls and tint each bowl a complementary darker colour (I used pink, orange and purple).
- Check your glaze has reached 32C/90F before using with a digital thermometer (usually will reach this temperature by the time you are done tinkering with the colour).
- Remove the cheesecake from the freezer and carefully remove the tin base and greaseproof paper. Place on wire rack set over a tray or tin to catch the excess glaze.
- Smooth the top of the cheesecake with a palette knife so it is as even and smooth as possible.
- Pour the base colour glaze over the entire cheesecake, allowing it to drip over the sides.
- Use a spoon to drizzle the contrasting glaze over the top to create and interesting pattern – work quickly before the glaze has a chance to set.
- Add a dusting of lustre powder or other decorations if you like. Leave the glaze to set and cheesecake to come to room temperature before serving.
- If you are not serving immediately, keep in the fridge until ready to slice.
Video
Notes
• You will have glaze leftover. Don’t be tempted to use it all as it sets a bit rubbery and you don’t want the glaze to be too thick. You could reheat glaze that has set to use on another recipe – perhaps to add as a drizzle on a cake.
Mira says
Hi Lucy,
Thank you so much for a great recipe!
I’ve looked at so many mirror glaze recipes and youtube videos but they were all different but then I came across your website and saw your this recipe. After watching the video and reading the recipe I was like this is it what I was looking for! I have followed your entire recipe from A to Z and made jt for Xmas day lunch, my white chocolate cheesecake and mirror glaze came out Perfect! 💯 And it was absolutely hit on the table, tasted amazing (not too sweet) and our guests loved it! I used a red & blue food colouring, covered the cake with red mirror glaze and made a drizzle with the blue one and it was beautiful.
Thank you so much again for such a beautiful and easy to follow recipe!
Merry Christmas!
I was so happy about my glaze.
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Mira – that’s really wonderful to hear and if you are on Instagram I would love to see a photo of it! Merry Christmas to you 🙂
Robyn says
I am not a fan of white chocolate so I tried this with white candy melts. I added flavor to compliment the cheesecake. It worked perfectly. I just wanted to share that white chocolate is certainly not the only option for this glaze
Lucy Parissi says
That’s a great tip Robyn, am glad it worked so well. Would love to see a photo if you are on Instagram 🙂
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
Lucy….. You have surpassed yourself. Your food is always beautiful, but this is a work of art! Absolutely gorgeous!
I have always wanted to make a mirror glaze cake, but always been too scared….. you make it look so easy xx
Julia Frey says
What a stunner, Lucy!! I am really craving cheesecake for Mother’s day…do you think Brad can manage it with the video? 🙂
Andrea @ Cooking with Mamma C says
I’ve never heard of mirror glaze, but it’s gorgeous! I love the colors you chose. What a beautiful presentation!
Katie | Healthy Seasonal Recipes says
Simply stunning. I love the idea of taking your inspiration from nature. Tulips are one of my favorite indulgences in spring time!
Luci's Morsels says
What a fun recipe! These colors look like they’d be perfect for spring too. I may have to add this to my spread sometime soon. So cool!
Debra C. says
Love the video, it makes this delicious cake so do-able! It is so beautiful it looks like stained glass. Gorgeous cake and amazing pictures!
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
This is so stunning. I have always wondered how to do this kind of glaze.
Dom says
so stunning and such a great video, thanks for the filming advice too. I would quite like a slice but would hate to eat something so pretty… oh who am I kidding!
Lucy Parissi says
I am still learning the ropes with video – it’s such a lot to take on and I couldn’t do it without help. My husband has been roped in as videographer/editor!
Margot says
Wow, this looks amazing!! I was watching video how the cake was made on YouTube the other day.
The cake and colourful flowers are such a great combo, would make perfect Mother’s Day treat 🙂
Lucy Parissi says
It’s a fun technique I can’t wait to use it on other recipes too. Definitely perfect for special occasions!
Kellie@foodtoglow says
This is just over the top ridiculously beautiful! The marbling of the cake and the styling is so stunning. But I wouldn’t wish to ruin it my actually *using* it as a mirror lol 😉 PS where did you get your corn syrup from? As an American ex-pat this is an ingredient common in US sweet recipes but I’ve never come across it here in the UK. Internet purchase? PPS Those Waitrose flowers are incredible.
Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet says
Oh, how pretty! Looks more like a work of art than something to be eaten. Mmmmm, white chocolate…
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
That is such a stunning looking cake. I have always wondered how to get the mirror glaze, although I think I would still manage to mess it up!