Are you following along with Jaci Hicken, our seasoned journalist and trained chef, as she makes a French fruit tart, baking your own? This week, Jaci is making the cake glaze, which is used to seal the tart as part of the final step.
Are you following along, baking a French fruit tart with me?
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So far, we have made the sweet short crust pastry, baked a tart case and made diplomat cream.
This week, we are making the final component, cake glaze.
Making the clear cake glaze, will move all of us into the advanced cake-baking class, but it's not really that hard.
I use a pectin NH powder that can be bought online, but it’s not cheap, unless you are going to use it more than once.
Pectin NH creates the clear, jelly-like glaze you find on the shiny cakes at a fancy bakery.
You can substitute it for citrus pectin, which you may be able to pick up at a brewing or health food shop, but your glaze might not come out as clear.
But still give it a go, and if anyone says your cake glaze isn't clear, tell them to do it themselves.
For this recipe, you may want to use a cooking thermometer, but I’ve made cake glaze a couple of (hundred) times now and just bring it to a simmer by eye.
Cake glaze recipe
Ingredients
10 grams of pectin
65 grams of sugar, plus another 200 grams of sugar
250 grams of water
1 tablespoon of liquid glucose
Method
Step 1: In a small bowl, place the 65 grams of sugar. Add the pectin and mix.
Step 2: Place the water in a small saucepan, and heat to 60°C
Step 3: Add the sugar-pectin mixture to the water and bring it to a quick boil, then add the 200 grams of sugar.
Step 4: Return to a boil, then stir in the tablespoon of glucose.
Step 5: Remove from heat and strain into a jug. Cool.
Keep the glaze in the fridge until needed. When it is time to glaze a cake or tart, remove it from the fridge and bring it to room temperature.
There is some suggestion that it should be heated over a water bath until it reaches an internal temperature of 35°C, but I find this is unnecessary.
In the next Jaci can cook column, we will be building our French fruit tarts, which I will want to see photos of.
If you are reading this in the paper Riv, you will find step-by-step photos and a video of how to make cake glaze at riverineherald.com.au/lifestyle
Enjoy
– Jaci
Are you following along, baking a French fruit tart? Do you have a photo of your creation to share? Share it with Jaci at jaci.hicken@mmg.com.au.
Anyone who shares a photo of their French fruit tart with the Riverine Herald and McPherson Media Group will be in the running for a gift box of Jacican preserves valued at $30 (plus $10 postage).
All photos of French fruit tarts must be received by MMG by Friday, July 31, 2026, at 1pm, at jaci.hicken@mmg.com.au.
The winner will be chosen at the discretion of MMG on Friday, July 31, 2026, at 4pm and published in the Riverine Herald on Tuesday, August 4, 2026.