How to make Fruit Cake Glaze for a Perfect Cake

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Find out today “How to Make Fruit Cake Glaze”. When you see all the wonderful German fruit cake recipes you might wonder how to make the shiny glaze that is on top of the fruit. In Germany we always use a glaze for the fruit cakes. We call it “Tortenguss” in German. And we can find it on any supermarket shelf in the baking section! Conveniently in a package. This glaze is not a substitute for frosting or icing! It is a simple clear glaze.

Why do we use Glaze?
It looks nice, makes the fruit shiny, it protects the fruit and won’t let it dry out. And it tastes better than without a glaze.
The problem is that in the USA you don’t find the glazes we use in Germany from Dr Oetker in super markets. They can be found only in very special International or German stores. The only way is to buy them online or import them from Germany which is somewhat very complicated. But wait, you can make the glaze from scratch and it is super easy!
We show you in this article how to make such a cake glaze. It is so easy and can be made very fast. You need tapioca or potato starch which will keep the glaze clear.

Cornstarch will make the glaze milky! Use different juices or water and a little bit of sugar. That’s all. If you would want to buy the glaze online use the one from Dr Oetker (can be found on Amazon). This ready made glaze comes in a package and does not contain any sugar. Basically is contains the starch you need. So it’s really the same when you make the glaze yourself. Happy Cooking!

Basic Clear Glaze (can be varied for different fruit)

Ingredients
240 ml juice (apple, pear or green grape juice, for a red glaze use cherry juice or any red juice)
10ml lemon juice
2 tbsp corn starch, preferably Non-GMO
1-2 tbsp sugar, amount depends on the kind of juice

Instructions Make Fruit Cake Glaze

– Mix water with lemon juice.
– From this liquid take 4 tbsp and place into a cup or bowl, combine with potato starch.
– Mix very well so that there won’t be any lumps. It should be smooth.
– Bring remaining water to a boil, add 2 tbsp sugar (or less) then add the starch liquid. Bring it to a very brisk boil (only).
– Let cool of a bit then with a spoon place it slowly and spoon by spoon on top of the fruit cake.

Make a Red Fruit Cake Glaze

– Use red grape, cherry or cranberry juice for cakes that contain red fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries).
– You always can use the juice of the fruit that you use for the cake eg sour cherries from the jar always have some liquid.
Reduce amount of sugar accordingly because the juice is already sweet.

Use Fruit Puree
Instead of water and juice use pureed fruit with starch. You can create interesting effects like topping the cake with kiwi fruit and layer it with a strawberry glaze. This makes a nice contrast.

RECOMMENDATIONS
US versions of glazes are not the same and will alter the taste when used. The worst is an edible glaze spray that is 100 percent chemical. We recommend NOT to use such glazes.

There is a product listed on Amazon and it has following Ingredients: Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Strawberry Jell-O Mix (Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Gelatin, Adipic Acid, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Red 40, Artificial Flavor), Non-GMO Cornstarch
It sounds pretty chemical, doesn’t it? In Germany we bake and cook the old fashioned way: Chemical free.