Glaze

A glaze is a thin, glossy coating on food. In baking it is often powdered sugar mixed with liquid, poured over cakes, cookies and doughnuts, where it sets into a smooth shell. Warm jam brushed on fruit tarts is a glaze too, and so is egg wash on bread. In savory cooking, a glaze is a sticky, sweet sauce brushed on meat or vegetables near the end of cooking.

How to do it

For a simple sugar glaze:

1. Sift 125 g (1 cup) powdered sugar (icing sugar in the UK) into a bowl.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of milk, water or lemon juice.
3. Stir until smooth. Add more liquid a teaspoon at a time until it is thick but pourable.
4. Pour or spoon it over a cooled cake and let it set for 20 to 30 minutes.

For a fruit tart glaze, warm apricot jam with a splash of water, strain it and brush it on the fruit. For meat, brush on a sweet sauce in the last 10 to 15 minutes of cooking.

How to tell it is done

A sugar glaze should flow slowly off a spoon and leave a ribbon that disappears in a few seconds. A savory glaze cooked in a pan is ready when it coats the back of a spoon.

Common mistakes

• Glazing a warm cake. The glaze melts and runs off. Wait until it is cool.
• Adding too much liquid at once. A few drops change a sugar glaze a lot.
• Brushing a sugary glaze on meat too early. Sugar burns over high heat. Wait until near the end.
• Not sifting the sugar. Small lumps show in the finish.

In recipes

"Glaze" can be a noun, the coating, or a verb, the act of coating. A glazed ham or carrots are cooked with a sweet coating that has been reduced until sticky. Unlike frosting, which is thick and fluffy, a glaze is thin enough to pour. "Mirror glaze" is a very shiny gelatin glaze poured over chilled mousse cakes.