Never a year goes by on The Great British Bake Off without a perfect-looking mirror glaze coating a cake – but it’s not as difficult as it looks.

Series nine winner, Rahul Mandal, says: “Here, I decided to show you how to make a single-colour glaze, but you can easily transform this to a marbled glazing by pouring two different-coloured glazes at the same time on the cake. Be creative and enjoy the experience!”

Coloured mirror glaze

Ingredients:

6 platinum-grade gelatine leaves75ml water150g caster sugar3tbsp glucose syrup120g condensed milk150g white chocolate2tsp flavouring extract of your choice (optional)Food colouring gel (optional)

Method

1. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for five to 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the water, sugar and glucose syrup in a saucepan. Place over a medium heat and bring to a rolling boil.

3. As the mixture starts to boil, add the condensed milk and whisk to combine, then take the pan off the heat.

4. Squeeze the excess water out of the gelatine leaves and add them to the mixture, whisking well to fully dissolve and combine.

5. Place the chopped white chocolate in a heatproof jug and pour the warm mixture over the top. Add any flavouring extract and/or food colouring you want to use, then blend with a stick blender to emulsify.

6. Set aside and leave to cool to about 30°C before using, whisking from time to time to make sure it doesn’t start to set.

Showstopping Cakes by Rahul Mandal is published by Kyle Books, priced £26. Photography by Maja Smend. Available now.