Sweet Duplicates

Did you figure out that I made meringue mushrooms from Monday's post? They're so cute and look incredibly real, don't they? I love how this photo turned out! I'm glad I had dried moss and acorn tops in my craft supplies (random, right? lol) to properly set up what I had envisioned for this shot :)

The light dusting of cocoa powder makes them look like they're covered in dirt :)

I used this Martha Stewart's recipe. The recipe was suppose to make around 3 dozen mushrooms but I got close to sixty! Maybe it was because I piped my mushrooms on the smaller side. You can definitely halve the recipe to make fewer mushrooms.

I did simplify the recipe a little bit by using only melted bittersweet chocolate. First, I carved the holes in the center of all the caps. Next I used a small offset spatula to cover the bottom of a cap with melted chocolate. I then dipped the smaller end of a stem into the bowl of melted chocolate and insert it into the hole of the cap that I just worked with. I repeated this step until all the mushrooms are formed. (Btw, I learned this method from Flour Bakery. One year during a slow holiday shift, I helped the bakers attach all the stems to the caps. I remember how fun it was and the memory made me smile while I was making these mushrooms :)

I let the chocolate set and stored them upside down in an airtight container so that the stems can't break off easily.

They're typically used to decorate a Bûche de Noël but I used them to garnish my crêpe cake. They make such a lovely presentation and they're so fun to eat too. Like biting into a sugar cloud :)