Cute Mushroom Dessert

Every time I see the cute little red and white topped mushrooms, I get so excited. They just bring an immediate whimsy that makes me smile. I wanted to create a dessert that looked just as cute and tasted even better.

The Stem

These style of mushroom have a classic white stem. The best way to achieve this is through meringue. Meringue can be browned from cooking but it is traditionally a plain white color. To make the meringue you need egg whites and granulated sugar. The first step is to whip the egg whites until you see a bubbly foam on the top of the whites. Then, slowly add in the sugar as the whites continue to whip. Once all the sugar is added, turn the mixer on high to continue whipping the egg whites. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. You know you have stiff peaks when you lift up the whisk and the peak of the egg white mixture stands straight up.

Once you have the meringue mixture, you can pipe the mushroom stems. Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe out your desired stem shape onto a parchment lined sheet pan. You can make the stems look how ever you would like, but for this particular style of mushroom dessert, I would recommend a thicker and wider stem to support the weight of the mushroom top. By applying more pressure when piping the meringue, you get a thicker stem.

Then, you put the piped stems into a 225F degree oven for 90 minutes, or until they are crisp to the touch and easily peel off the parchment paper. Once they are fully cooled, you can brush on some cocoa powder to give a more "forest plucked" look or you can keep them all white.

The Iconic Red and White Tops

The part that makes these kinds of mushrooms so cute is the iconic red top with white dots. These tops are going to act as a shell so we can fill them with cream. You will need a half dome shaped silicone mold to create the shells, red chocolate, and white chocolate. Melt the red chocoalte and line the bottom of the half dome molds. You want the chocolate to be thick enough that you can't see through it, but thin enough to crack through when eating. Once the red chocolate is set, pipe in your desired filling. I used raspberry pastry cream to fill my mushroom tops. Now you wil need to cover the top with more red chocolate. The easiest way to do this is to fill a piping bag with the chocolate and pipe it all over the filling, making sure to get it all the way to the edges. I even like to add a cookie ontop of the filling, giving the chocoalte a flat and even layer to go over. You need to make sure the edges are all sealed so your filling doesn't seep out. Once this chocolate has set you can peel the domes out of the molds.

To make the cute white dots you need to melt the white chocolate and pipe on the circles to the top of the red dome. You can do any size or amount of dots you want!

Assembly

If you have make your stems wide enough for the tops, you can just rest the red tops on the meringues. You may need to very slightly flatten the meringue stems by tapping down on them to create a stable surface for the tops. If you want extra stability, you can use some melted white chocolate to connect the two parts together.

Now you have the cutest mushroom desserts that look and taste amazing. Feel free to get creative with the shapes and colors and I would love to see you yours turned out!