Sweet rolls topped with buttercream icing and white chocolate mushrooms with a pretzel core.
This all started with a art prompt on Instagram and turned into a mad dash to gently sculpt mushrooms from chocolate. I think the results were well worth the time.
Earlier this year I did a major gingerbread project where I learned a whole pile of things really fast about making art from food. One of those things was how fun chocolate is to work with, it is a surprisingly interesting sculpting medium. You can make nearly anything from chocolate with a little patience. Making mushrooms from chocolate like this is time consuming but the results are pretty cool and they taste great! Keep reading to see how to make these sweet addition to any cake or cupcake.
Jump to Sweet Rolls RecipeMaking the Chocolate Mushrooms
Ingredients
- White chocolate wafers
- Pretzel sticks
- Cocoa powder
Equipment
- double boiler or bowl and pot
- piping bag
- paint brush
- butter knife
How to make White Chocolate Mushrooms with a Pretzel core
- Use a double boiler over medium low heat to melt your white chocolate wafers. If you don’t have a double boiler use a heat safe bowl over a pot with a small amount of water in it.
- Remove the chocolate from the heat and let it cool slightly.
- Dip the pretzel sticks halfway into the chocolate, hold for about a minute then set on parchment paper.
- Do all the sticks you need and a couple extra and set them in the freezer.
- Repeat this process until your stalks are as thick as you want them.
- Put some of the melted chocolate into a piping bag.
- Make small circles of chocolate on parchment paper and set in freezer.
- After a couple minutes in the freezer remove them, pipe more chocolate on top in a smaller circle.
- Use a small paint brush to spread the edges out slightly and place in the freezer.
- Repeat this process until they are the height you want them and set back in freezer to set completely.
- Cover in a light layer of chocolate once set and let harden.
- Smooth out the surface with a finger. The warmth of your finger will help smooth the chocolate out.
- Create a groove in the bottom of the mushroom cap.
- Place a dab of melted chocolate in the grove and place the pretzel stick mushroom stalk.
- Smooth out the extra chocolate.
- Place back in the freezer to fully harden.
- Once all of them are finished take them out and paint the tops and dust over details with cocoa powder. And TaDa! Mushrooms!
Decorating the Sweet Rolls
Icing
These rolls are great with any of the icings I’ve tried so far. The recipe isn’t that sweet so it makes for a nice vessel for sweet toppings. The original recipe comes from the Elder Scrolls cookbook (which I highly recommend). In the book they suggest a cream cheese icing glaze that is really nice. For this recipe I wanted something that held its shape a little better so I made a very simple whipped buttercream icing.
Buttercream Icing
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
Gel food colouring
The buttercream icing really brings out the butter flavour of the sweetroll for a delightful buttery experience.
To colour the icing I used a green gel food colouring. Gel colours help get a stronger colour with less food colouring. Liquid colours will work but its harder to get a darker or brighter shade. For lighter colours liquid works well, for darker colours or reds choose gel when you can.
Placing the Chocolate Mushrooms
To place the mushrooms gently press the ends of the pretzel sticks into the sweet rolls. These could be used on cupcakes or cakes, anything you can press them into. A whole woodland themed cake scene could be made complete with some little pretzel and white chocolate mushrooms.
Sweet rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm milk
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp yeast
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Warm milk and melt butter together
- Add sugar and yeast to milk, make sure milk is warm and not hot
- whisk in egg
- In seperate bowl mix flour and salt
- Add milk mixture to flour and stir, the mixture will be a wet gooey consistency unlike bread but thicker then a batter
- grease muffin tin and fill
- Set aside to rise for 30 minutes
- Bake for 15 minutes