Meringue Mushrooms

Start by preparing a bain-marie. In a saucepan, bring some water to a boil. In the meantime, clarify the eggs one by one. Reserve the egg yolks for later use in another recipe.
Pour the egg whites in the stand mixer recipient. Add the icing sugar and combine.

Place the bowl over the bain-marie and beat with a hand whisk until foamy.

When the preparation is hot, place the recipient in the standmixer and beat until cooled down completely.

The meringue is now ready. It needs to be used immediately to pipe the mushrooms caps and stems.

Transfer the meringue into a piping bag. Pipe 4 meringue dots in the corners of a baking sheet.

Stick a sheet of greaseproof paper sheet on top. This will prevent the paper from lifting during baking.

For the mushroom caps, pipe into plain round shapes on the greaseproof paper or non-stick baking mat.

Repeat the operation for the mushroom stems, piping vertical shapes with a pointed end.

Sprinkle cocoa powder over the mushroom caps.

Bake at 100°C (gas 1/4) for about 1 hour.

When cooked, let cool and detach from the greaseproof paper. Store in a dry place.

With the tip of a knife, poke a hole on the bottom of each cap.

Fill the hole with a little amount of royal icing or crème au beurre.

To assemble, insert the pointed stems into the hole under the caps. Royal icing serves as an adhesive and will set in a few hours. You can also use crème au beurre, which needs to be refrigerated to set.
#Applications:
Decorating cakes, desserts, Christmas yule logs...