Meringue Mushrooms
Meringue mushrooms, perfect for topping cakes and Buche de Noels.
Ingredients
- 2 large, fresh egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- ¼ cup chocolate, melted
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 225F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer, and with the whisk attachment, mix on high speed until foamy.
- Slowly add the sugar and whip until stiff, glossy peaks form.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine.
- Transfer the meringue to a large pastry bag fitted with a ½" tip (Wilton 1A). Pipe mushroom tops, about ½" to 1 ½" diameter, leaving about an inch apart between them.
- Put a little bit of water into a small bowl. Using a clean finger, dip your finger in the water, wiping off the excess, and gently tap down the peaked tops of the mushroom tops.
- Pipe the mushroom stems by holding the piping bag directly above the parchment, about ½" or so from the parchment. Apply pressure to pipe a thicker base with a tapered, thinner top in a variety of sizes. It's best to pipe these as straight up and down as possible to keep them from falling over when baking.
- Using a fine sieve, sift the natural cocoa powder on top on the mushroom tops. Sift as little or as much cocoa powder as you would like.
- Bake the meringue mushrooms for about 60-75 minutes until the meringue is dry to the touch, and can be easily removed from the parchment. I start checking the meringues every so often about 50 minutes into baking. Let the meringues cool completely.
- Fill a small piping bag with melted chocolate. Cut off the tip of the piping bag. You are going to need just a small amount of chocolate per mushroom.
- Using a small paring knife, make a small hole in center of flat side of each mushroom top. Pipe a little bit of chocolate into the hole and fit the smaller end of meringue stem into hole. Let the chocolate harden before decorating with the mushrooms.
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