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Candy Cap White Chocolate Mousse Mushrooms with Mirror Glaze, Black Cocoa Soil, Cocoa Rocks, and Brown Butter Dust Moss

This mushroom dessert is only partially an illusion. The mousse filling the mushrooms is actually flavored with candy cap mushrooms, which taste strongly of maple syrup with just a hint of an earthy note that is absolutely delicious! The mousse is enrobed in a crisp white chocolate shell. A cherry red mirror glaze and finely grated white chocolate finishes the mushroom cap look while a light dusting of cocoa powder finishes the stems. The overall illusion is complete with a crumbled black cocoa cupcake soil, cocoa rocks, and green brown butter dust moss. Though there are multiple components here, they can all be prepared in advance. Whole assembled mushrooms and be made and frozen for up to 2 months. Then just glaze before serving. Likewise, the cake, rocks, and moss can be made days ahead and refrigerated, or frozen for up to 2 months.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword american, black cocoa, brown butter, cake, candy cap, Chocolate, dessert, mousse, mushroom, nightshade-free, white chocolate
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 2 days
Servings 10
Calories 471kcal
Author Jenny Ross

Ingredients

White Chocolate Candy Cap Mousse Mushrooms

White Chocolate Mushroom Shell

Red Mirror Glaze

To Decorate the Mushrooms

Black Cocoa Cakes for the Cocoa Soil

Cocoa Rocks

  • 1 black cocoa cupcake
  • leftover white chocolate mushroom shell
  • cocoa powder

Brown Butter Dust Moss

Instructions

Chocolate Mousse Mushrooms

  • Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small pot. Stir in the candy cap powder and salt and let simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let the cream steep until room temperature. refrigerate overnight.
  • Combine egg yolks and allulose over a double boiler and whisk while heating until all the allulose is dissolved and the eggs fall in soft ribbons, set aside to cool.
  • Meanwhile, strain the infused cream, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids Whisk the cream to soft peaks.
  • Add the strained cream to the egg mixture in thirds. Specifically, whisk the first 1/3 in to lighten the mixture and then fold the remaining cream in with 2 additions.
  • Melt the white chocolate (either slowly over a double boiler or in the microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds or so until liquid. Gently fold thorough the mousse mixture.
  • Melt the bloomed gelatin in microwave, about 15 seconds and then gently fold this through the mousse mixture. Transfer to piping bag with round tip.
  • Pipe the mousse into half sphere silicon molds to form the mushroom caps and then pipe cones vertically on a nonstick parchment or silicon mat set on a baking sheet. Transfer these to the freezer and freeze until completely set, preferably overnight.

White Chocolate Mushroom Shell

  • Once frozen, dip each half sphere and stalk into a combo of white chocolate (75%) and cocoa butter (25%) (cocoa butter lightens it up for a thinner and crispy coating).
  • Use toothpick to dip and transfer. Repeat for stems. Once set, glue tops and bottoms together with more of the chocolate coating. Keep glued mushrooms frozen until ready to decorate.

For the Mirror Glaze

  • Heat the cream and allulose over medium heat until just simmering. Add the bloomed gelatin and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and add the white chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes to melt the chocolate. Stir until completely smooth and then stir in color to desired strength. (You can place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the glaze and refrigerate overnight or use it after making, just make sure to let it cool to 90ºF before applying it.)

To Decorate Mushrooms

  • Use nitrile gloves to handle chocolate coated mushrooms, if possible. Holding each mushroom by the stem, carefully dip the top of the cap into the mirror glaze. Allow any excess to drip off and then gently roll the bottom edge in finely chopped white chocolate. Sprinkle a bit more over the top of the cap for a spotted effect. Set aside and repeat until all are decorated. Brush the bottoms of the stems lightly with cocoa powder to give a bit of color, if desired.

For the Cocoa Rocks

  • Stir together a crumbled cupcake with the leftover white chocolate shell coating (you may need to rewarm it if it has set - in that case microwave it at 50% power, stirring every 20-30 seconds until liquid). Using your hands, squeeze mixture into random rock shapes. Roughly chop to add some texture and toss with cocoa powder. Leave at room temperature to set or refrigerate to speed the setting.

For the Brown Butter Dust

  • Add the butter to a small pan or pot with a light color bottom (this will allow you to see when the butter solids have turned golden). I like to brown at least a cup of butter at a time and I freeze whatever I don’t use for easy use in the future - add the remaining browned butter to a ziplock and lay it flat on a baking tray. Freeze solid and then store.) Cook over medium heat until the butter smells nutty and the solids in the butter have turned a light golden color.
  • Weigh out the tapioca maltodextrin and place it into a large bowl. Pour the browned butter on top and whisk until evenly distributed. Store in an airtight container (any water will cause the powder to dissolve, leaving you with a slurry). Will keep refrigerated for up to a month or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To Assemble

  • Crumble a cupcake onto the center of each cake to form the soil. Place mushrooms on the soil and place cocoa rocks around. Sprinkle with brown butter dust to from the moss. Garnish with edible plants, if desired, such as the fennel and oxalis here.

Notes

You can also use your favorite almond cookie here rather than the brown butter dust - just crumble and add color.
Protein:Energy Quotient [calories]: 0.13, Protein % of calories: 8.1%

Nutrition

Calories: 471kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Sodium: 272mg | Potassium: 151mg | Fiber: 18g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 671IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 1mg