Small edible meringue mushroom decorations, with a hint of coffee and chocolate.
I’ve not actually made these meringue mushrooms in many years but a random memory of these popped into my head the other day so I naturally felt the need to revisit these.
While these are delicious little meringue bites as they are, sometimes even dipped in chocolate, they are great used to decorate cakes and desserts. For example, a chocolate log:
Chocolate, orange and caramel Yule log
The meringues will go soft eventually and become more like marshmallow, but you can pop then into an airtight container to keep them crisper for longer.
Recipe: mocha meringue mushrooms
- 1 medium egg white
- 50g caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon coffee powder or crushed granules
- 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder plus a little extra to dust over
- about 20g melted chocolate to stick them together
You will need 1-2 baking sheets lined with parchment and a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle. The oven should be preheated to 100°C (fan).
(1) Put the egg white into a small, clean and dry bowl and use an hand-held electric whisk for about a minute to whisk it up to a light foam.
(2) With the whisk still on, add the sugar a little at a time, and keep whisking until you have firm, pipeable peaks. This typically takes 3-4 minutes.
(3) Whisk in the cocoa powder and the coffee powder for a few seconds.
(4) Spoon the meringue mixture into the piping bag.
(5) Pipe circles of meringue for the mushroom caps: some can be 1cm or so in diameter, others can be larger. Try to keep these flat and without little peaks in the middle: but you can use a wet finger to flatten off if needed.
(6) Pipe vertical columns for the mushroom stalks, forming a rough cone shape. Don’t worry about any of the tips flopping over as they will get trimmed them once baked.
Meringue mixture ready to bake
(7) Dust over a little cocoa powder and bake at 100°C for about 2 hours which will be enough time to dry them out.
Bases & tops to assemble
Assembling the mushrooms
Melted chocolate is best sticking the stalks and caps together so they hold their shape.
(1) Cut off the top of the “stalks” so they are flat:
Flatten the tops of the “stalks”
(2) Dip this flattened end in melted chocolate:
Mocha meringue mushrooms
(3) Place the chocolate-dipped end the onto the flat surface of the caps, holding the stalk in place for a moment or so to allow it to stick.
Sticking the bases on
(4) Leave until the chocolate has fully set, at which point they are ready to use.
Mocha meringue mushrooms
