Mirror Glaze Cakes in Bracknell
A mirror glaze is a gelatine-set icing poured at about 30°C over a cake frozen solid, where it grips in a layer a millimetre thick and sets to a reflective shell. That makes it a finish for a mousse cake rather than a birthday sponge: the cake underneath has to be freezable. Velvet-effect coating, the matte version of the same idea, is £15–£30.
Made to order in Bracknell, and collected rather than delivered. The shine is the whole product, and a fingerprint or half an hour in a warm car is the end of it.
What does a mirror glaze cake cost?
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
6" mousse cake to glaze The only base a mirror glaze can go on — frozen, then poured over 8–12 slices | Quoted |
Velvet-effect coating Belgian chocolate, cocoa butter. | 15–30 |
Ganache drip on a normal cake The glossy look on a buttercream cake, part of the finish | Included |
8" buttercream cake For comparison: what a mirror glaze cannot be poured over 14–18 slices | £130 |
A glazed cake is quoted with the design, because the base is a mousse rather than a size on a list — see mousse cakes. Velvet coating is £15–£30 from the add-ons list. Free collection, or delivery from £30.
Ask about a mirror glaze cake
We reply within 24 hours with a price. No deposit is taken until you are happy with the quote.
Not ready to send it? What follows answers most of what people ask first.
How long it takes
7–10 days for a simple design, at least 14 for two tiers.
Sooner is sometimes possible: a rush adds 50% when the notice is under 7 days, if the diary is clear.
In a hurry? Bento cakes take 3–5 days.
Delivery
From £30, quoted by distance from RG12 0UY.
Collection from Bracknell is free — see the areas we cover.
Paying
50% deposit to hold your date; orders under £50 are paid in full.
Balance 3 hours before collection, or cash on the day.
The deposit is non-refundable but transferable with 4 days' notice — full terms.
Why is the temperature the whole technique?
Because a mirror glaze has one usable window and it is narrow. Too hot — above about 35°C — and the glaze is thin enough to run straight off, leaving a translucent film with the cake showing through. Too cool, below about 28°C, and it thickens as it pours, so it sets in ridges and the surface is no longer a mirror. Between those two it coats in one pass over a cake at about −18°C, and there is no second attempt: a glaze poured twice shows the join. That is the entire difficulty, and it is why the finish costs what it does wherever you buy it.
Three glossy finishes, and what each needs
Mirror glaze — a frozen mousse cake, poured at about 30°C, kept cold.
Velvet coating — £15–£30, also sprayed on frozen, matte rather than shiny.
Ganache drip — any buttercream cake, no freezing, included in the finish.
What does a mirror glaze taste like?
Sweet, and thin enough that it is mostly texture. A millimetre of glaze on a slice is a few grams of sugar and white chocolate — a clean sweetness against the mousse rather than a layer anybody eats on its own. This is the honest argument for it: unlike fondant, which people lift off the plate and leave, a glaze adds almost nothing to eat and everything to look at. The mousse under it is where the flavour lives, which is why mousse cakes and berry cakes are the pages to read next.
Is a mirror glaze right for your occasion?
It is right where the cake is looked at indoors, cut soon after it arrives and eaten cold: a dinner, an anniversary, a small wedding dessert, anything in a restaurant or a kitchen. It is wrong for a garden party in July, wrong for a children's party where the cake sits out for three hours, and wrong for anything that has to travel an hour. For those, a fresh cream cake or a buttercream cake with a drip gives most of the look with none of the risk, and cake care says how long each finish stands up for.
What else do people ask?
Allergies? Our kitchen handles all 14 of the allergens UK law requires us to declare, so nothing we bake is free from any of them. What is in each cake, and our hygiene rating.