a hobbity birthday cake

i'm a big LOTR nerd, and i've been planning on making a cake like this for a while. i've always imagined it as what the cake at bilbo's eleventy-first birthday probably looked like. i finally had the LASIK procedure so i was trying to take it easy without straining my eyes on books or tv and computer screens, and my birthday is coming up in a few days, so baking a three layer cake seemed like a pretty good way to occupy myself.

the mushrooms are made of meringue and chocolate, and are traditionally used for a buche de noel, but they're so cute and realistic that i'm probably going to start putting them on EVERYTHING. the cake is so perfectly chocolate - it's not too filling or too rich, it's just perfect. and i used a boiled sugar recipe for the frosting. for this recipe (mushrooms, cake, and frosting) you're going to need a lot of eggs, between 6-8. so it's a good recipe for a day when everyone brings home eggs from the grocery store and you have like three cartons in the fridge.

for the meringue mushrooms (20-30):
1/2 cup egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

toothpicks
a pastry bag with a large round tip
baking sheets, either greased or covered in parchment paper

heat oven to 225º F. pour egg whites into a wide bowl and whisk (with a mixer or by hand) until foamy. add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla, and whip until the mixture forms soft peaks. slowly add the sugar until stiff peaks begin to form. put the meringue in the bag and squeeze rounded shapes for the "caps" and taller, thinner peaks for the "stems" onto the baking sheets. don't worry about perfection - they'll look more realistic if they're all a little different. bake in the oven for 1-1/2 hours, until the meringue is dry and lifts easily from the pans.

melt chocolate chips in a double boiler. using a toothpick, hollow out small holes in the center of each cap. "paint" on the melted chocolate in the hole, and around the bottom of the caps to form the "gills". press the tips of the stems into the hollows and set aside (far from the stove and oven) for the chocolate to solidify. if you have an empty egg carton, you can use it to hold the mushrooms upside down while they dry. once dried, sprinkle the tops of the mushrooms with cocoa powder "dirt".

you can keep these in an airtight container for several days. don't add them to your cake/frosting until right before serving, or the meringue will get spongy.

for the chocolate cake:
1 3/4 cup flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

1 cup boiling water

preheat the oven to 350º F. Combine all of the dry ingredients, the mix in the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Once smooth, mix in the boiling water - the batter will be thin. Pour into two 9" pans and bake for 30-35, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside cakes to cool and cut before frosting.

for the frosting:
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt


it's important to note that boiled frosting is very temperamental. if it's a wet or humid day, it doesn't tend to set up right, and it's better to make a simple buttercream frosting instead.

combine the water, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar in a saucepan and bring to a boil until it is clear. remove from heat and allow the mixture to set. beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, and then slowly add the sugar mixture down the side of the bowl, taking care not to mix the sugar directly with the beaters (better to mix the egg white around the sugar to incorporate it). add the vanilla and beat the frosting until it forms stiff peaks.