Milk glaze: the recipe for cooking

Glaze - the main decoration of Easter cakes and Christmas gingerbread. Its composition is very simple, but everyone knows that it is rather difficult to make this delicious decoration. Our article is devoted to the subtleties of preparation of the glaze of milk. If you listen to the tips below, even the first time cooked, it will please you with its excellent quality. In the first part of the article we will describe how the classical icing is done. And the second part will be devoted to a more light version of the decorative glaze for baking.

What should be the glaze

When you are going to make a classic icing, be patient and free. This is quite a difficult matter. Much depends on the skill and intuition of the cook, because at each stage the consistency of glaze milk is different. Actually, this is the complexity of its manufacture.

Ready glaze should not crumble, break, be rough, too dense or transparent. The ideal milk frosting for cake, cake or gingerbread is white, smooth and shiny. Usually it is not prepared for future use, as it quickly solidifies and its elasticity is not restored. This does not apply only to the first recipe.

Three types of consistency

For cakes and cakes, the milk frosting is made more elastic and dense than for gingerbread. It should spread a little and adhere well to the surface of the biscuit. On the sides of cakes are allowed dense stains - this is an additional delicious decoration.

As for gingerbread, on which glaze lace is drawn, then it should be more liquid, because the thinner the line, the more beautiful the product.

The third application of glaze is the decoration of gingerbread houses. In this case, it is colored with food colors. It should not drain off structural elements, crack and be too thin or dense.

As you can see, the milk frosting is different. From the cook needs a very adjusted approach, even a kind of flair. You can learn to glaze desserts only by trial and error. Our recommendations have been repeatedly tested by many culinary experts. We hope that they will help you in your culinary experiments and you will also cope with your task.

The secret of the right consistency

To understand how to make milk frosting viscous, homogeneous and white without the addition of milk or dye, you need to understand the technology. After all, the glaze is, in fact, sugar syrup, and it, as is known, tends to crystallize, or sugar. In industrial production, this property is combated by the addition of invert sugar syrup or molasses. At home, it is more convenient to use citric acid for these purposes. It is more expensive than molasses and an inverted syrup, but it preserves the structure of sugar crystals much better. For homemade baking citric acid needs very little, therefore, it will not be too burdensome for your wallet. It is added during the cooking of the syrup.

The sugar crystals in the glaze are very small, indistinguishable by the eye - that is why the glaze looks and is tender and creamy.

Recipe 1 (classic)

To prepare the glaze will take 250 grams of granulated sugar and 30 g of lemon juice. Water is taken in relation to sugar, as one to three. This is the minimum amount of water in which the sugar will dissolve completely. In our case this is approximately 80-90 g. The ratio of ingredients is relatively arbitrary - the readiness of lipstick is determined in the process of cooking the syrup and evaporation of excess water. If it turns out to be too much, then it's better than too little - you just need to hold the syrup on the fire a little longer.

First step

Take an unglazed pan with a thick bottom and sprinkle sugar in it. Pour in water and put on a small fire. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Make the fire strong and bring the syrup to a boil. From time to time, wash the sugar clots from the walls of the pan. It is convenient to make a silicone brush. If the clots are not washed, they will fall into the finished glaze, and the sugar quickly crystallizes into large fractions. In sugar production, it is with the help of ready-made sugar crystals added to syrup that they obtain sugar granules with crystals of the same size and shape.

Let the syrup leave minutes 4-5. Then mix it with citric acid.

Second phase

Now it's time to determine whether the syrup is ready. Everything must be done very quickly and carefully. Firstly, because every extra second will affect the quality of the glaze, and secondly, because it is hot and sticky - you can get a serious burn.

The readiness check is defined as follows. It is necessary to prepare a bowl with cold water in advance - in it you will lower the spoon with syrup and check its softness. To do this, scoop a third of a teaspoon of syrup and dip it for a few seconds into the water. Immediately remove and carefully remember. If you managed to make a soft balloon - immediately remove the syrup from the fire. He's ready. Now it's time for the next stage.

The third stage

To make the resulting transparent syrup become milky white glaze, it must be shaken. It's a simple matter. Classic glaze is mixed to the state of white cream by stretching it with a porcelain knife on a marble board.

The glaze is poured onto the board. Then the knife is lifted, moved and lowered until it becomes uniformly white. This process is quite long. If there is a mixer and nozzles for whipping the dough, you can cut it several times.

To work with a mixer, you need to take two bowls of different sizes - put ice in a large bowl, and pour the syrup into a small one. On it, too, it is desirable to pour out large (the size of chestnut) pieces of ice. Beat icing with ice. It will melt and cool the icing, but the water will not mix with it. You just pour it out later. Beating with ice reduces the time for the syrup to turn into glaze up to 10-15 minutes, while mixing on the marble board lasts at least 40 minutes.

Determine the availability of glaze is very simple. This is evident from the way the syrup changes its consistency and color. When it turns white, it will stop sticking and it will be easy to form, like heated clay, the glaze is ready. Wrap it in a wet cloth and put it in a plastic container. After a day the glaze stabilizes, and it can be used - it is enough to warm up a little on a water bath or near a warm battery. You can apply it as with a spatula, spreading the surface of the biscuit, and placing it in the cornet, for extrusion in the form of a thin thread and drawing.

The glaze made with this recipe can be stored in the refrigerator for as long as desired.

Next - three more recipes. They are much simpler than the first, but they are not inferior to taste and appearance.

Zephyr

It is easy and quick to prepare glaze from marshmallows. Unlike the classical, the recipe of which is given above, it is not stored for long. It is applied immediately. The main advantage of this glaze is that even a beginner can make it. It is always homogeneous, delicate and plastic. From above it freezes, but inside it remains moist and soft. For this reason, if there is a decorative sprinkling of cake or cake in the plans, this must be done very quickly, until the glaze has lost its stickiness. By the way, it is this milk frosting for cakes that fits most.

To make it, you need to take a 100-gram package of marshmallow, a tablespoon of butter, as much lemon juice and from 120 to 150 g of powdered sugar. The secret of the excellent consistency of this glaze is in the use of powdered sugar. Sand - in any case! Instead of marshmallow you can take marshmallow, but powder can not be replaced with sugar. His crispy crystals will spoil all the dessert. This glaze is also prepared very quickly, so that it does not burn out, use a water bath.

In a small saucepan, mash the marshmallow, add butter and citric acid. Pour this pot into a larger bowl with hot water. Put it on the fire. Stir. After the zafir has melted, start pouring powder. Keep hampering all the time. Density is determined by experience. Too liquid drained from the biscuit, but very thick it will be difficult to apply.

With hot glaze pour cake, sprinkle on top with multi-colored dragees and leave to freeze. After a couple of tens of minutes, the glaze acquires what is called a marketable appearance.

With creamy flavor and vanilla flavor

Milky-white glaze with a creamy taste can be obtained if you act on the first recipe, but instead of water take milk. Citric acid is not allowed, because it instantly curds the milk and no glaze will not work. Instead of acid, use molasses or glucose syrup. With them, the glaze will have to be cooked a little longer, but it is guaranteed not to crystallize. 50 g of butter, added at the end of cooking, will make the glaze glossy, and vanillin - fragrant. Readiness of the glaze can be checked as follows: drip a little glaze in a glass with cold water. If it falls to the bottom in the form of a thick cake, then it's ready. Apply it with a brush in several layers.

Of chocolate bars

White frosting of milk chocolate is done after the cookies, cake or cake are already baked and cooled. They do not do it for future use. Of course, the frozen azure can be returned to the liquid state, but this is a long and time consuming process. As a rule, only the icing on the first recipe is done in advance.

For milk chocolate glaze break the chocolate bar (100 g) and put in a saucepan. Put this pot into a bowl of boiling water. Then add a little milk (30-40 g) and powdered sugar (175 g). Stir until complete homogeneity. Apply the icing while it is warm.

Black chocolate turns out to be brown, and from white it's quite traditional white milk frosting. The recipe and technology of preparation is the same in both cases. The only condition - in chocolate, for obvious reasons, should not be nuts, air rice and candied fruit.

Confectioners say that it's easy to make a good frosting, but the first time it never works. The reason is that the density of the glaze and the thickness of all come out different, because the properties of the syrup depend on every second, on the temperature of the burner flame, even on the thickness and diameter of the bottom of the pan. To this you need to be ready. The correct consistency is usually achieved only with the second or third attempt.