Table of contents:
2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:20
"I have seen things that you humans …". Who does not remember “Blade Runner”, Ridley Scott's masterpiece? But while the Replicant-Rutger Hauer was referring to dream landscapes inaccessible to mere mortals, we, more modestly, looking at certain cakes, certain home masterpieces, certain works of art by Sunday pastry chefs, we would feel like pronouncing such a phrase in the opposite sense.
On Instagram, on Facebook, on personal blogs, on the fan clubs of Montersino, Massari, Knam and company, you can see things that truly we humans, but also dogs, would gladly do without.
Frightening cakes, heaps of badly distributed whipped cream made by brandishing the sac à poche as a chisel, wagons of clotted custard tending to sage green that dribble from imperfect edges that I miss the Norwegian fjords, fruit thrown in bulk on lopsided tarts and badly leavened sponge cake.
Poor Rutger Hauer, in front of such spectacles, really would have had no regrets in leaving the quasi-human remains prematurely.
Oh, yes, because by now everyone, unfortunately, has a planetary mixer, we are all children of Montersino, and we all cheer up relatives and friends with very welcome (!) Cakes in the shape of a shoe, a handbag, or a vase of flowers, made from lethal sponge cake-sugar paste coupled, mappazza that would also take out a tough replicant like Rutger Hauer in the span of an amen.
Sure, for most of us, it goes like this.
But not for everyone.
Not for her, at least.
She, Olga Noskova.
And who was she, you might say?
Well, not much is known, except her nationality: Russian.
And anyway, her creations speak for her: masterpieces posted on Instagram that have earned her the well-deserved approval of thousands of followers.
Things like these:
Elegant.
Essential.
Of refined taste.
With the few and well-chosen decorations that sometimes embellish, without weighing it down, a perfect and very shiny glaze with skilfully mixed colors. Light years away from the triumphs of creams, creams and gaudy puffs that we are used to seeing in the windows of pastry shops, however renowned they may be.
The merit is not only of Olga's skilled hands and her impeccable taste, but also of a versatile and impeccably executed glaze.
Here, we have published the recipe for the mirror glaze that covers these magnificences of Olga, an already insidious glaze even if only performed with modest results. So imagine making it perfect, giving it that extra touch of refinement, taste and elegance that Olga gives it!
You have asked us for clarification, if possible other recipes, especially the mirror glaze.
We will gladly give you another one, this time very detailed, but it is clear that getting close to Olga's works of art, recipe aside, depends on the skill of the pastry chef.
Hoping not to be forced to exclaim bitterly: "I've seen things …"
Mirror glaze:
Ingrediants:
175 ml. of water
150 grams of fresh cream
225 grams of sugar
75 grams of bitter cocoa
8 grams of isinglass
melted white chocolate (optional)
Preparation:
Prepare the mirror glaze by mixing the sugar and unsweetened cocoa in a saucepan, then add the water and cream a little at a time, stirring well so as not to form lumps.
Heat the mixture by stirring until it reaches a temperature of 104 ° C.
Remove from the heat and let it cool down to 50 ° C., Then add the isinglass (soaked in cold water and squeezed).
In the meantime, get ready to glaze: place a box with a smaller diameter than the cake in a large bowl and place a wire rack or cake rack on top.
As soon as the icing temperature reaches 35 ° C. remove the cake from the freezer, remove it from the pan placing it on the wire rack, then start pouring the icing over it: in this way the icing, which will be quite fluid, will run down the sides of the cake and fall back into the bowl.
Return the semifreddo cake to the freezer and remove it an hour before serving.
At this point, if desired, you can further refine it with melted white chocolate placed in a croissant to decorate.
Leave the parfait in the refrigerator until ready to serve.