Egg whites and sugar turn into small, crisp meringues that can be assembled into decorative mushrooms. Dusted with a little cocoa, they look like tiny woodland mushrooms and are perfect on a chocolate Swiss roll or a festive Christmas cake.

You don’t need a Thermomix: a hand mixer or a stand mixer is enough. What matters is a grease-free bowl, finely incorporated sugar and plenty of time to dry.

Meringue Mushrooms

Small meringue mushrooms made from whisked egg whites and sugar, decorated with cocoa powder.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Cooling time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Servings: 20 pieces

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Equipment Instructions Notes

Ingredients

  

• 70 g egg whites approx. 2 egg whites; at room temperature, with no trace of yolk
• 100 g sugar caster sugar, as fine as possible; or icing sugar
• 1 pinch salt optional
• ½ tsp lemon juice optional, stabilises the meringue
• 1 tsp cocoa powder unsweetened, for dusting
• 10 g dark chocolate optional, melted, for sticking together

Equipment

• 1 hand mixer or a food processor
• 1 mixing bowl grease-free
• 1 piping bag with a round nozzle, approx. 8–12 mm
• 2 baking tray
• 1 sieve small

Instructions

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 90 °C (conventional, top and bottom heat). Line two trays with baking paper.
2. Whisk the egg whites with the hand mixer in a completely clean, grease-free bowl until frothy.
3. Add the salt and lemon juice, if using. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar and keep whisking for 7–10 minutes until the mixture is firm, glossy and almost free of noticeable sugar crystals.
4. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle (approx. 8–12 mm) with the meringue.
5. For the mushroom caps, pipe round dots about 2–3 cm in diameter onto one tray. Smooth any small peaks with a slightly damp finger.
6. For the stalks, pipe upright, slightly pointed dots about 2–3 cm high onto the second tray. Allow one stalk per cap and make a few spares.
7. Dust the caps very lightly with cocoa powder.
8. Dry in the oven for about 90–120 minutes until the meringues come away easily from the baking paper and are dry inside. Depending on their size, it may take longer. For a fan oven, use about 80 °C.
9. Switch off the oven, open the door slightly and let the meringues cool slowly inside.
10. If using, melt a little chocolate. Put a small dab on the underside of each cap and stick on a stalk. Leave to set. Alternatively, join the pieces with a little leftover meringue before drying, if they stand steadily.

Notes

The nutritional values are per mushroom for 20 pieces, without chocolate.

Tips & Variations

For simple meringues instead of mushrooms, just pipe small dots or rosettes. Small shapes may need less drying time.

The meringues should dry, not brown. If they start to colour, lower the oven temperature.

If the mixture is grainy, keep whisking and add the sugar more slowly next time.

In humid weather, meringues turn sticky more quickly. Once completely cool, store them airtight and dry – not in the fridge.

Place the meringue mushrooms on the buttercream as close to serving as possible so they stay crisp.

A little cocoa is enough for the mushroom look; you can also dust on the spots after drying.

The decoration contains a lot of sugar; to use less, make smaller mushrooms rather than greatly reducing the sugar in the basic recipe.