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I'm sorry to those of you who had asked me to post the recipe! I got totally busy and forgot. Here are the steps by step! :) It's really fun to make and even more fun to show your friends. My dad kept on asking me if the cake was savory. He's nutty!

My cake was originally inspired by this fruit cake I saw in an old Martha Stewart Living.

Martha Stewart Living Dec. 2003


This is the version I made. The mushrooms are from the recipe in Martha Stewart Living, but the cake is a dense chocolate cake covered in chocolate tea-infused ganache.


Chocolate Cake

- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp


- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 sour cream

Prepare 8-inch round cake pan (with parchment and butter sides)

In bowl, mix all dry ingredients together until well mixed. Use a fork or whisk.

In another larger bowl or in bowl of electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. At low speed, add in flour in two parts, alternating between sour cream.. ending with flour.

Spread into pan. Place pan to oven, preheated at 350. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Place cake on wire rack. Then glaze with ganache.

Chocolate Ganache / Glaze
- 4 onces chopped semi-sweet chocolate
- 1/2 heavy cream

Place chocolate in non-reactive/heat-proof bowl. Bring cream to a high simmer (be careful not to burn the cream). Immediately pour cream over chocolate. Let sit for one minute, whisk with fork until smooth and pourable.

*NOTE: if you want a tea-infused flavor to the chocolate cake.. like an earl grey or chamomile, add tea bags or loose tea to the cream when heating and strain tea or remove tea bags before pouring on top of the chocolate.

Meringue Mushrooms
*These are really time consuming. I recommended baking the meringue before bed, and then turning off the oven, and letting the mushrooms completely dry in the oven overnight. This will get out all the moisture from the meringue.

Make swiss meringue with 4 egg whites, 1 cup sugar in a heatproof bowl. Place ingredients in a saucepan with water. Bring water to a simmer and cook egg whites and sugar (while whisking constantly) until sugar is disolved and egg whites are warm to the touch. *Note: you will know when you reached this point when you don't feel the graininess of the sugar anymore.

Transfer mixture into electric mixer, or use hand mixer, and start at a low speed and gradually increase to high. Whisk until meringue is cool and stiff with glossy peaks. Then add 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla.

Preheat oven to 200.

Take one third of swiss meringue mixture and fold in 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder. This is where you can have alot of fun with the recipe. Add more cocoa powder to make it darker. I alternated adding blobs on the white and chocolate swiss meringue mixture into my piping bag to create a "swirl" effect. I thought it made the mushrooms look more real! If you are going to make it really dark. I would suggest only using about 1/5 of the swiss meringue mixture. The stuff tends to mix in the bag... and keep in mind that dark always overpowers light. You also don't have to do this part if you only want white mushrooms.

Then add swiss meringue mixtures into pastry bag that is either open or with a 1/2" tip. Alternate portions of chocolate and white swiss meringue to create cool swirl effect :)

Pipe meringue onto baking sheet lined with parchment. Make domes and stems. Domes can be 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter. See photo:



Bake meringue for 1.5 to 2 hours until completely dry to touch but NOT BROWNED! Then turn off oven and leave in for four hours or overnight or until oven is completely cool to the touch. The great thing about this cake is that it keeps at room temperature for days. The glaze really seals in the moisture so it's never dry.

Once meringue pieces are completely cool and dry. Prepare assembly. Melt 2 onces dark chocolate first. Let cool until thickened. Spread a thin layer of dark choco on the bottoms of the mushroom caps. Let cool. Then melt 3 oz of white chocolate. Let cool until thickened. Spread a thin layer over the dark choco of the mushroom caps. With a toothpick draw lines to create a more mushroom-y effect! :)



Once cool, use a small paring knife to make a small hotel in the center of each coated cap. Dip stem in white chocolate and insert in hole. Let set. These mushrooms can be made in advance and can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.

Toothpick

Before placing mushrooms on cake. Lightly dust tops of mushrooms with cocoa powder for mushroom-y look.

When assembling them on top of the cake, make sure glaze has thickened and cool but is still slightly sticky. This will adhere the mushrooms on the cake.

I hope someone else will make this! It was challenging but very fun.