Can you believe that there is a mushroom that smells like a maple bar? When I received my sample from Marx Foods last week, I left the bag of them on the counter. All week long, my kids kept looking for the donuts. Really, the aroma was very nice and very maple-y. The only problem I had was limiting my ideas of what to do with those mushrooms, which also included plotting ways of getting my sweets-loving, mushroom-hating third son to eat them. Cupcakes seemed like the best route.
See those little dark pieces in the cupcakes? Those are candied Candy Caps. Instead of soaking them in straight water, I heated them in a heavy syrup and let them soak in sugar. When they were nice and plump, I chopped them up. I didn’t stop there, though. That syrup was full of flavor, so it went into both the cupcakes and the frosting.
My kids accuse me of staying up late at night to come up with new ways to torture them. Normally, that is a ridiculous thought. However, in this case, slipping mushrooms right past my whole family was worth every effort. Everyone was oohing and aahing over dessert. They all went back for seconds and thirds. No one suspected a thing. I saved out a few mushrooms, ground them up fine and plan to sneak them into something else in the future. Snicker, snicker.
1. Info for Candy Cap Mushroom Syrup Cupcakes
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 60 mins
- Servings: 8
- Calories: 200kcal
2. Ingredients for Candy Cap Mushroom Syrup Cupcakes
- ⅓ cup shortening (or butter)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 Tbsp finely chopped candied Candy Cap Mushrooms
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 2¼ cups flour
- 3 egg whites
- Brown Sugar Frosting:
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp Candy Cap Mushroom syrup
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
3. Directions:
- Cream the sugar and shortening.
- Add the syrup, milk, mushrooms and vanilla.
- Combine the salt, baking powder and flour in a small bowl and add to the wet ingredients, mixing until smooth.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff.
- Fold into the cake batter.
- Scoop out into 15 regular sized cupcake liners.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes or until done.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- Frost with brown sugar frosting.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar and syrup on medium low heat.
- Add the milk and bring to a rolling boil.
- Boil for 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
- Cool for 5 minutes in the freezer and then spread on cupcakes.
- To make Candy Cap Mushroom Syrup: Heat 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan.
- Add ¼ cup dried candy cap mushrooms.
- Boil rapidly for 5-8 minutes.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Turn off heat and let sit for another 15 minutes.
- When mushrooms are nice and plump, but cool enough to handle, remove from syrup and chop as desired.
