Making Meringue Mushrooms and Woodland Creatures: A Creative Cake Decorating Tutorial

Martha has shared her expertise on making meringue mushrooms and woodland creatures, perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes. She begins by discussing the ease of making these objects, stating that they're "fun to make" and can be made using a Swiss or Italian meringue. To create the mushroom caps, Martha suggests using a big tip like a half-inch tip and patting down the top with ice water to achieve a natural look.

To shape the stems, she advises using a little dollop of meringue and then bringing it up in that way, leaving them pointed at the end. The mushrooms are baked at low temperatures around 300 degrees until they're completely dry, after which they can be dusted with cocoa powder for a realistic appearance. Martha also shares her trick of using ganache to hold the stems in place, ensuring they stay nice and firm.

In addition to meringue mushrooms, Martha discusses other woodland creatures that can be made using these techniques. For example, she showcases her creation of a cute little hedgehog using light-colored marzipan and darker textured marzipan for the body. The eyes are made with toothpick textures, while the acorn is created using a pointy egg horn and more textured marzipan.

Martha emphasizes that making these creatures can be done to any size, allowing for versatility in decorating cakes and cupcakes. She also highlights the importance of chilling everything, including the cake and decorations, to achieve the best results. This attention to detail ensures that the final product is both visually appealing and delicious.

One of the most impressive creations showcased by Martha is a beautiful pine cone made from almond cake. The cake is cut using an egg-shaped cookie cutter, and then covered in chocolate ganache with sliced almonds for added texture. This stunning decoration can be placed on top of a cake or cupcake, adding a touch of elegance to any dessert.

Throughout her tutorial, Martha shares her passion for cake decorating, highlighting the joy and satisfaction that comes from creating these small but impressive decorations. With her expert guidance, readers will be inspired to try making their own meringue mushrooms and woodland creatures, adding a creative touch to their baking endeavors.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe've made a few woodland creatures and uh objects and so mushrooms have you made meringue mushrooms before i have never made oils they're fun to make and uh when they're really nicely made they look so cute so realistic yeah i'm having these dry upside down on an egg carton just so and making them is so easy use a swiss or italian meringue okay and a big tip like a half inch tip and for the the tops of the mushrooms the caps you can make the caps smaller okay or bigger do you pat down the top as well i do with ice water just with my water yeah okay just just make them look kind of natural got it let's see they look they're they're looking good they they are so effective as as woodland um objects and then for the stems okay just this way and up okay so a little dollop and then you like just bring it up like that shorter stems longer stems okay just leave them pointed like that what do you bake these at low about 300 degrees and leave them in until they are totally dry and turn it off and let them stay in overnight even oh really so you want a really dry mushroom here's a stem and a top okay to make these are a little bit moist because of the humidity today and i'm putting a little ganache on the tip of my stem and then just sticking this right in now that will stay it will hold up nicely and then to dry right on here okay let's see how nicely the upside down egg carton looks yeah it's beautiful and a great idea that's great and you can dust them with cocoa like this okay and there's your little mushroom okay yes like it looks like a mushroom they're really cute then there's all other things for woodland these are green italian okay pistachio beautifully green so this can be you can embellish one of those cupcakes okay yeah i would love to yeah i'd also love to eat one of these yeah you can also use chocolate shavings these are chocolate shavings so this will look like dirt on top of oh smart on top of your earth okay to make that so easy just use a potato peeler look okay and just go like this on a bar of really good chocolate ah so simple so simple you don't have to melt it yeah now to farm some of these creatures this is the cutest little hedgehog very cute so that's just a light colored marzipan slightly tan okay and a darker marzipan textured you make the body of the creature okay here yeah let's do this here put a little powder it may not look as good as yours but we're gonna cut our sugar on your fingers okay smart you can make a creature as large or as small as you like okay i'm gonna try and follow yours and make a make the cap that goes over it see that's his back oh okay and see it's naturally crackling you need little eyes make two little eyes and a tiny little speck on his nose look and then you can use a tooth fiction texture and they're delicious i love the nuttiness of it so he can sit right up here it's cute yeah i love that acorns the same thing you make a little pointy egg horn and the top can be textured again with a toothpick and so there you have a nice little acorn beautiful that too can be just put right on top i don't want to forget a leaf chip too leaves are really pretty to make this is a leaf tip beef tip okay and so that makes a pretty leak oh i like that yeah so it's just a question of using your hat that's beautiful and you can cover the whole thing with a leaf beautiful yeah good landy everything should be chilled everything should be kept cold now oh and the fiesta resistance is this fabulous pine cone what do you think beautiful see this is an almond cake okay and so the cake itself is uh cut with this egg-shaped cookie cutter okay and uh you bake the sheet cake then you may cover it with a chocolate ganache and then this would take you quite a while to stick all these sliced almonds in the cake you can put a lot of texture too yeah this is so pretty and this can he can even be sitting on top right there you can do whatever and you can also put a little bit of this on the plate if you want you want to take some of these packs i would love to take that i'll give you a little don't tell the other contestants you won't i won't you can steal this from me but look how pretty no it's gorgeous these are the little tiny tiny touches that make cake decorating just a pleasure thanks martha youwe've made a few woodland creatures and uh objects and so mushrooms have you made meringue mushrooms before i have never made oils they're fun to make and uh when they're really nicely made they look so cute so realistic yeah i'm having these dry upside down on an egg carton just so and making them is so easy use a swiss or italian meringue okay and a big tip like a half inch tip and for the the tops of the mushrooms the caps you can make the caps smaller okay or bigger do you pat down the top as well i do with ice water just with my water yeah okay just just make them look kind of natural got it let's see they look they're they're looking good they they are so effective as as woodland um objects and then for the stems okay just this way and up okay so a little dollop and then you like just bring it up like that shorter stems longer stems okay just leave them pointed like that what do you bake these at low about 300 degrees and leave them in until they are totally dry and turn it off and let them stay in overnight even oh really so you want a really dry mushroom here's a stem and a top okay to make these are a little bit moist because of the humidity today and i'm putting a little ganache on the tip of my stem and then just sticking this right in now that will stay it will hold up nicely and then to dry right on here okay let's see how nicely the upside down egg carton looks yeah it's beautiful and a great idea that's great and you can dust them with cocoa like this okay and there's your little mushroom okay yes like it looks like a mushroom they're really cute then there's all other things for woodland these are green italian okay pistachio beautifully green so this can be you can embellish one of those cupcakes okay yeah i would love to yeah i'd also love to eat one of these yeah you can also use chocolate shavings these are chocolate shavings so this will look like dirt on top of oh smart on top of your earth okay to make that so easy just use a potato peeler look okay and just go like this on a bar of really good chocolate ah so simple so simple you don't have to melt it yeah now to farm some of these creatures this is the cutest little hedgehog very cute so that's just a light colored marzipan slightly tan okay and a darker marzipan textured you make the body of the creature okay here yeah let's do this here put a little powder it may not look as good as yours but we're gonna cut our sugar on your fingers okay smart you can make a creature as large or as small as you like okay i'm gonna try and follow yours and make a make the cap that goes over it see that's his back oh okay and see it's naturally crackling you need little eyes make two little eyes and a tiny little speck on his nose look and then you can use a tooth fiction texture and they're delicious i love the nuttiness of it so he can sit right up here it's cute yeah i love that acorns the same thing you make a little pointy egg horn and the top can be textured again with a toothpick and so there you have a nice little acorn beautiful that too can be just put right on top i don't want to forget a leaf chip too leaves are really pretty to make this is a leaf tip beef tip okay and so that makes a pretty leak oh i like that yeah so it's just a question of using your hat that's beautiful and you can cover the whole thing with a leaf beautiful yeah good landy everything should be chilled everything should be kept cold now oh and the fiesta resistance is this fabulous pine cone what do you think beautiful see this is an almond cake okay and so the cake itself is uh cut with this egg-shaped cookie cutter okay and uh you bake the sheet cake then you may cover it with a chocolate ganache and then this would take you quite a while to stick all these sliced almonds in the cake you can put a lot of texture too yeah this is so pretty and this can he can even be sitting on top right there you can do whatever and you can also put a little bit of this on the plate if you want you want to take some of these packs i would love to take that i'll give you a little don't tell the other contestants you won't i won't you can steal this from me but look how pretty no it's gorgeous these are the little tiny tiny touches that make cake decorating just a pleasure thanks martha you\n"