Meringue Mushrooms Decorations for a Bûche de Noël

This is the first step for making a Yule log cake, also called in French Bûche de Noël. There is nothing hard about making this cake even though it looks complicated.  Rather, it is all about planning and stretching out the steps over three days. Trust me.  It will seem like a piece of cake with my various short cuts and cheats which will be discussed next week. Stay the course as it will be worth it in the end when you receive oohs and ahhs from family and friends.

Ingredients:

Have all ingredients at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 200-225 ⁰ F.

1 cup sifted superfine sugar (regular sugar works too but be sure to sift through a superfine sieve)

3 egg whites (Save the yolks for another recipe)

Pinch of cream of tartar

½ teaspoon

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Cooking instructions:

1.    Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2.    In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to whip up egg whites until foamy.  (I use a Kitchen Aid standing mixer with a wire whisk attachment.)

3.    Add pinch of cream of tartar and vanilla and continue whipping until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted.

4.    Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, a Tablespoon at a time, until all is used and continue to whip until stiff, shiny peaks are achieved.

5.    Place meringue into a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip.

6.    First pipe 1 ¼ inch-long stems pulling the bag straight back. (Make 24 stems)

7.    Next, pipe mushrooms caps in different sizes ( 1 to 1½ inch rounds) pulling the bag off to the side to avoid making peaks on the top.  If you do have peaks, take a small dish of warm water, dampen your finger and gently pat down the tops.

8.    Dust the mushroom caps with unsweetened cocoa powder pushed through a fine sieve.

9.    Bake the meringue pieces for 1 hour—rotating cookie sheet after 30 minutes—or until meringue is dry.

10. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside until cool. At this point, the mushroom pieces can be put in a tin, tightly wrapped, and kept at room temperature for up to three days.

11. To decorate the cake, poke a small hole in the bottom of the mushroom caps using a small, sharp paring knife.

12. With an offset spatula, spread a dab of either the chocolate or coffee icing on the bottom of the mushroom cap.  

13. Dip the stem meringue pieces lightly into the icing and insert into the hole, pressing gently so pieces adhere together. Set aside.

14. Depending on the size of your mushrooms, once assembled you will only need 8 to 12 to decorate the cake. Any remaining meringues can be used later as cookies, either on their own or iced with chocolate or coffee filling.

Makes: 24-36 whole mushrooms