Gumming

Gommage teaches the difference between coating and finishing. The one true thing is this: the cakes must be hot and the gommage warm. A whisper-thin coat laid on at that meeting point dries to a soft shine; cold cake makes it sit heavily, and a generous hand turns gloss into icing.

The original entry assumed a pastry kitchen with a thin gum arabic solution waiting beside the oven and tray after tray passing beneath the brush. For one home batch, that standing jar and brigade quantity are scaffolding and can go. A small saucepan, a soft brush, and enough milk-and-sugar syrup for 24 cakes do the honest work. The source itself gives milk and sugar as the better alternative, so we keep it because it tastes better and belongs in the everyday pantry.

Have the rack ready and the brush in your hand before the cakes leave the oven. Immediate brushing is the dish and cannot go; everything else is setup. One cook, one stove, one evening.