Anyone have good results making a mirror glaze cake? I tried making my first one last weekend and I'm looking for some tips.

I haven't done a pure mirror glaze cake before, but I may be able to offer some tips. What were your problems?

What kind of gelatin did you use - powder or sheets?

First of all, I need a good foundation. Most sites suggested using an entremet cake, but that seemed difficult. Some sites said a mousse cake is ok too, so I did that. The problem is a couldn't get the surface of it smooth, so I need a better cake to use. Secondly, it wasn't quite as glossy as I was hoping, so any tips for that.

I used powder gelatin.

Try using the gelatin sheets. They are much better in my opinion. I use these sheets: gelatin They work great in the chocolate glaze that I do and are recommended in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook.

When I get the time, I'm going to try this cake: cake with a raspberry mirror glaze. I saw a picture of one that someone did, and it came out pretty smooth. For a cake like this, you have to be very careful to follow the instructions closely.

Also take your time.

I'll try those sheets next time. HEB didn't have sheets and I didn't want to wait for sheets to ship.

Maybe I whipped the top layer of mousse too much, maybe if I leave it a little less stiff then it'll flatten out more. I wonder if I also could just use a hot wire to cut a thin layer off the top.

Was it just not smooth or were there lumps in the mousse?

The mousse didn't have lumps, I just couldn't get the surface perfectly smooth with a spatula, so there were spatula tracks all over the top. Maybe I need a different type of spatula. I made it in a spring form pan so the edge of the pan prevents me from just running the spatula straight across.

Sometimes just giving the pan a little shakey shake will be enough to smooth it out.

Do you know anything about the gel food dye? I saw that recommended a lot too, but I just used regular food dye. Do you think the gel could make it more glossy?

I use the gel food coloring all the time. I don't think that is why would make it glossy though. It is certainly a more concentrated color though. It would look more vibrant color-wise. If you want to give it a try, you could go get wilton gel colors at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or Joanns. If you are doing an amazon order, I would pick up some Americolor. You might see a difference in the gloss in the type of gelatin though. Do you have a link to the recipe that you used for the glaze?

Watch this video to see how this person gets the mousse cake flat - she actually froze it and turned it out upside down, so the bottom is actually the top.

I used this one: https://www.southernfatty.com/how-to-make-a-mirror-glazed-cake/

I tried to make it maroon, so maybe that was a mistake. Maybe I should go with a brighter color. The maroon didn't turn out that good anyway.

Maroon is always a tough color. Americolor has a maroon that is pretty good though. I don't think the immersion blender step in that recipe is really necessary. I've seen recipes where you just pour it through a sieve and call it a day. The amount of water that is in regular food coloring may have some effect, but I wouldn't think that it would make it not shiny at all.