INGREDIENTS
A lasting glow A glossy layer atop diverse bakery products is a great way to make a first impression and, more often than not, plays a decisive role in purchasing decisions. It keeps products fresh, and stable, it contributes to their flavor or color. It also helps to enable creativity in decorations and brand products such as cakes, pastries, muffins, donuts, or hybrid creations.
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Several solutions can be used to cover baked goods, including glazes, icings, frostings, or fondants. Although some might be called interchangeably, there are quite some differences between them. The needed functionalities and the working of the products are very much dependent on the type of application for which they are used.
As a company with American roots and European heritage, Dawn Foods has a background in the full spectrum of glazes and icings that are used around the world. Christopher Ries, Category Marketing Manager Wets at Dawn Foods EU & AMEAP, mapped the various types for us, with their benefits and utilization guidelines. Glazes can be divided into three major segments: + Hot glazes need to be diluted if a concentrated variant is used, and heated – often to the boil – before applying. These glazes are used on fresh fruits to ensure a nice shine. Their functional role is to keep the fruits fresh for longer. Some can add flavor and color to the application (e.g. Strawberry glaze). Hot glazes can be applied with a brush or a spraying machine, which works very well when the fruits and the application that needs to be covered are delicate. “Our Belnap®-range is, for example, very suitable to apply with a brush on delicate fruits. The Gelomat is developed for spraying applications,” Ries illustrates. Cold glazes are ready to use cold, + or only slightly warmed (up to 30-45°C).
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They are used for mirrors on mousse cakes, bavaroises, or entremets. They are easily tailored and customizable with flavoring pastes or colors, allowing bakers to be creative and develop signature applications. “With our Decorgel® Plus range, customers can even go bold with shapes, as the glazes hold on vertical and round surfaces, such as domes – covering the application with an even layer of glaze,” Ries details. The functionality of both hot and cold glazes comes mostly from pectins and gels. Donut glazes, also called glaze icing, are specific to donuts and their product family, such as Berliners, yum yums and other local donut-alike specialties. These glazes are mainly applied directly after frying. They keep the donuts fresh for longer and have a nice ‘sugar bite’ to contrast the fluffy dough. The functionality of a donut glaze is mainly derived from sugar, like with fondants and icings.
Other categories to choose from are icings and fondants. The key to working with both is achieving a smooth texture and the characteristic gloss. Fondants have their origin in France (‘fondant’ comes from the French word ‘fondre, which means ‘to melt’). It is traditionally a white thick mass made of glucose syrup and sugar only, which requires more technical handling in its application. “Fondants need to be diluted with water and warmed to the right temperature, for the right viscosity and glossiness,” Ries explains. They are used widely in traditional
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www.bakingbiscuit.com 03/2022
