For the love of cake!: What I have learnt about macarons

For the love of cake!: What I have learnt about macarons: As one of the most popular baking treats of right now, I thought I'd do some research on the French delicacy that costs more than a regular cake...

What I have learnt about macarons

As one of the most popular baking treats of right now, I thought I'd do some research on the French delicacy that costs more than a regular cake.

1. There are four main ingredients to a macaron - ground almonds, icing sugar, egg whites and caster sugar.
2. The sifted dry ingredients should always be folded into the egg whites and never beaten, or the macorons would lose all their air and fall flat.
3. Their are two component parts that are very important to a macaron shell. a smooth circular shell and a whole, bubbly foot at the base, like a weird ribbon.
4. When piping the macarons, do it at a 90 degree angle and do not swirl the mixture, just let it make a circle then quickly flick the piping bag away. try to make even circles, you can do this by purchasing a macaron silicone mat that already has the circles on it.
5. Do not slam down the macarons before baking because they will lose their shape and become quite flat, just leave them to rest for 20 minutes for a skin to form for a more even baking and reduce cracking in the oven.
6. If you are worried that your oven will colour the macarons before they are fully baked, leave the oven door slightly ajar (using a wooden spoon to prop it open). This is a great tip for temperamental ovens like mine!
7. The best thing to cook macarons on is a silicone mat as they distribute the heat more evenly for a more even bake.
8. Keep an eye on the macarons when cooking as they can quickly turn from perfect to disastrous.
9. When cooked, por cold water onto the baking tray, underneath the silicone mat, to release the macarons by prising them off with steam. If this doesn't happen they will crumble and you will lose the foot.
10. Leave them to cool completely before removing from the mats and filling.

For the love of cake!: Red velvet macarons.

For the love of cake!: Red velvet macarons.: Delicious as a lighter sweet treat

Red velvet macarons.

Delicious as a lighter sweet treat

I recently purchased a cook book about all things macaroons. It was so interesting and contained lots of detain, however it let me down taste wise. This is why I have decided to invent my own recipe, taking inspiration from flavour compounds of this book ,so it is still useful to me.
 Red velvet cake is one of my favourites so macarons should be even better. I found that I can't get the mixture to turn completely red (please tell me if you know how!) but the colour I made it still looks good enough to eat. If you want a more cheesy filling don't use as much icing sugar as I have.
   For this recipe you need 1-2 baking sheets with an edge and silicone mats (you can even get macaron mats to guide you with the shape, Lakeland has a good one).
Makes about 20 pairs


Ingredients:


For the shells

• 100g/4oz ground almonds
• 100g/4oz icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 4 medium egg whites
• 100g/4oz cater sugar
• 5 drops red food colouring

For the filling

• 400g/1 lb icing sugar
• 50g/2oz butter, at room temperature
• 100g/4oz cream cheese (regular Philadelphia is the one that I can find in popular supermarkets)
• plain chocolate, to grate

Method:

In a food processor, blitz together the ground almond, icing sugar and cocoa powder for 3 seconds, four times. Sift the mixture onto a square of baking parchment.

Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until everything is incorporated and the end result is stiff and glossy. Next fold in the sifted ingredients in 4 batches, this is called the macaronner. Towards the end, add the food colouring and fold in until the colour is uniform.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag, fitted with a large (1cm) round nozzle and pipe in equal sized discs (4-5cm is the desired size) onto the prepared baking sheet(s). Leave to stand for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 105oc.  Bake the macarons for 15 minutes then increase the oven temperature to 160oc and bake for another 8 minutes, leaving the oven door slightly ajar so that the shells don't colour too much. 

Remove from the oven and pour cold water under the silicone mats and leave the macarons to cool completely. Now they should prise off the mat easily and the bubbly foot should still be intact.

For the filling, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and creamy. Sift in the icing sugar in four batches and mix until just combined. Pipe onto the base of a completely cool macaron shell, grate some of the chocolate on top of the filling then sandwich together with another shell. Repeat this for the rest. Place in the fridge for them to glue together properly or just eat straight away. YUM!

In the baking beginning

Hi, this is basically my introduction post. At the moment, well yesterday, I had a sudden burst of inspiration and decided to share my baking know how, which, over the 15 years I have been in this world, is far less than many others. However I'm gonna give it a shot anyway.


My cookbook collection is vast growing and i thought it was time to use the baking knowledge I have drooled over for the past 2 years of serious baking to start creating my own recipes, and they will be posted as soon as I have done a test run of my newly created chocolate and cinnamon bread twists.


The books I read more than a good fiction novel are cookbooks. The few that I leaf through daily are the two Great British Bake Off books as they are so reliable. I am also trying to get my hands on a Mary Berry cookbook as soon as I have the money (where did it all go?).


My favourite baking show at the moment is The Hairy Bikers Bakeation. I was pleasently surprised with the layout of the whole show and really enjoy seeing Europe's baking jewels. I can really relate to the presenters as well, not because I'm hairy and like motorbikes, but because of their obsession with baking and all things food. If you haven't seen it, why not? Even if normal cook shows may bore you, this one certainly won't. The series is interesting and surprisingly funny and lets you take a journey through places in europe thats are not necessarily big tourist attractions. I mean, who doesn't think of food as a highlight when you're on holiday?