Now you cannot deny the beauty of a mirror glaze cake. You can try, but you are just kidding yourself. Since my last attempt at a mirror glaze cake, I have decided to have at it with another one, this time, a raspberry infused red velvet entremet. The design was actually inspired by my friend, Christina, since she loves to draw pictures of cakes as much as I love to bring them to life. She calls me her “cake genie”, which is probably something I will dub myself from time to time for fun.

So being called a cake genie, prince, or angel aside, let’s talk about the layers that go into this entremet. For the base, a red velvet cake. We are going to also do a raspberry gelee layer, and a raspberry swirled cream cheese mousse, and a red-dyed cream cheese mirror glaze, finished with dark chocolate accents, glazed raspberries, and some edible pearls, because when it comes to mirror glaze cakes, it is perfectly okay to go to that degree of extra, because the cake already screams out “INSTAGRAM ME” and to that, I say “NO DUH, DIPSHIT, I FUCKING WILL!”

For the red velvet cake:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white; whipped to stiff peaks
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 dots red food coloring

Combine ingredients. Bake in a lined sheet tray for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cool completely.

For the raspberry gelee:
1/2 cup roughly chopped raspberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons agar agar
1/4 cup water

Combine ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook down for about 3 minutes on medium-high heat, and strain. Pour onto a small, deep sheet tray and set in the fridge. Once set, lay on top of the red velvet cake. Use a 3 inch ring mold to cut out circles of the gelee and cake simultaneously.

For the raspberry-cream cheese Bavarian mousse:
5 tablespoons cream cheese
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons gelatin + 1 tablespoon cold water (combine and allow to sit)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup heavy cream; whipped stiff
a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped raspberries

In a bowl, whip together the egg yolk, cream cheese, and granulated sugar. In a pot, melt down the bloomed gelatin in the water and once the mixture is simmering, pour into the cream cheese mixture, whisking until it is smooth. Whip the heavy cream, salt and vanilla in a separate bowl to stiff peaks. Once the cream cheese mixture is room temperature, fold in the heavy cream, then the chopped raspberries to achieve a swirled texture. In a lined 4 inch spring-form cake tin, fill each one about halfway with the mixture. Press the cakes, gelee side down, into the mixtures and allow them to freeze for about 3 hours, or overnight. Once the cakes are completely set, remove from the molds and keep in the freezer until you have prepared the glaze.

For mirror glaze:
2 cups white chocolate chips
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cream cheese
3/4 tablespoons gelatin powder + 1 tablespoon water
a pinch of salt
1 dot of red food coloring gel paste

Bloom gelatin in the water. Bring water and cream cheese to a simmer, whisking to remove the lumps of cream cheese, and add in the gelatin. Once the gelatin is melted down, pour into the white chocolate. Stir until fully melted. Pass through a sieve to be safe. Season with salt and the red food coloring. During assembly, make sure that the glaze is lukewarm.

For garnish:
Dark chocolate
Edible pearls (white)
Fresh raspberries; cut in half
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon water

Dissolve the sugar and water together and toss the raspberries in those. Glazing them will keep the exposed side of the berries from going dry when you garnish the cake with them. Melt down the dark chocolate in a double boiler, bringing it up to about 90 degrees F (it should be as warm as your body, unless you’re a vampire or zombie or have bad circulation like my friend, Alicia – we couldn’t find her pulse when we did a lab in Bio AP and we accused her of being undead, and like any actually living human being, she did NOT take that accusation very well). Story aside, transfer to a piping bag equipped with your smallest tip; if you absolutely have to, snip a tiny bit off of your piping bag. I do not recommend doing that, because the chocolate might pipe clunkily compared to the guaranteed finesse of using a piping tip, but use what you have, right? Pipe the pattern onto the already glazed cake, and garnish with the raspberries and pearls.