Basic Macaron with Salted Caramel

This is final part of my macaron adventure. Taking a break from it for now till I try the other methods, not in the near future though. My weight is an issue, as always. It is on a upward trend and it looks comfortable there, without any desire to come down. Not that I tried hard enough. I might start on a porridge diet and see if it will work. Been busy with work and orders lately. These are the times when I feel that it is easier to bake without having to blog about it. It would be nice if I could just post pictures without any text. Maybe it's writer's block or I have exhausted any brain cells I have left after work and unearthly hours baking session.

Among those first and last batch of macarons which I bought, I liked the one with salted caramel. So I thought it would be good to experiment making my own. Besides using it for macarons, it can be eaten with pancakes, crepes, bananas and scones. I did a weird combo the other day. I spreaded caramel with Nutella on bread, which was quite good. Alternatively, you can scoop right out of the jar and eat it on its own. I did. It's no wonder my weight wouldn't come down.

Basic Macaron
Ingredients
50g Icing Sugar
5g Cornflour

*Sift together

30g Finely Ground Almond

35g Egg White (this time I used fresh egg white)
30g Sugar

Method
1) Prepare 2 11 x 14 inch baking tray, lined with silicon coated parchment paper (draw circles behind the parchment if required). Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

2) Add the ground almond to the icing sugar mixture, break up clumps if any.

3 In another clean and dry bowl, whisk the egg white till frothy. Add in sugar in 2 additions and whisk till soft peak.

4) Add in the ground almond mixture into whisked egg whites in 2 addition, fold till incorporated. Lift the spatula to see if it falls ribbon-like.

5) Load the batter into a piping bag with round tip. Pipe into circles. Bake for about 5 to 8 minutes. The feet will start to form. Lower down the temperature to 110 degrees and further bake for another 15 minutes. Set aside to cool and remove from paper.

6) Pair them up and sandwich with *salted caramel, buttercream or ganache. Refrigerate before serving.

I have gotten the recipe of Salted Caramel from a reliable source, Tartelette. I am pretty sure those who wanted to attempt making macarons visited her blog at least once. I can't say I followed her blog closely as I didn't have time to blog hop too much these days, but I do pop by once in a while to spy. Her creations are just incredible. It made me realise that I still have a long way to go and wonder if I have the stamina to go on.

Salted Caramel
Ingredients
240g Sugar
80g Water
115g Salted Butter
150g Whipping Cream

Method
1) In a saucepan combine the sugar and water and heat over low heat. Add butter when sugar is dissolved.

2) Brint to a boil and cook till it reaches a **golden caramel color (not too dark).

3) Remove from the heat and add whipping cream. At this point, the mixture will splatter. Wear a protective gear if you must. Whisk to combine and return to low heat. Bring to a boil and let it cook for 10 minutes till it reaches a creamy, ***flowing consistency. Pour into a jar to store.

*Note : I sprinkled some sea salt on the caramel before sandwiching the macarons together.

**Note : Do not cook till the colour becomes too dark, the mixture will continue to cook even after you remove from heat. I burnt my first batch.

***Note : The caramel shouldn't cook till too thick. After cooling to room temperature, it will set. If it is cooked too long, it will set into a very oily butterscotch candy. That was what happened my second batch.

Till then, happy baking!

Green Tea Macarons

As mentioned in my earlier post, I attempted the 'preciooouussss~~' because I intended to use them for decorative purposes. I declared a disclaimer to mom; if I can't get it right, I would stick something else on the cake. Fortunately, the 'preciooouussss~~' were co-operative. I managed to nail it, twice in a row. These are the leftovers after assembling the cake. I had some lemon curd which I made for my scones, so I use it for these macarons. The tangy taste of the curd balances the sweetness rather well. Without further ado (no time to write too much), here's the recipe I used.

Green Tea Macaron
Ingredients
50g Icing Sugar
5g Green Tea Powder (use good quality ones)

*Sift together


30g Finely Ground Almond

35g Egg White (this time I used fresh egg white)
30g Sugar

Method
1) Prepare 2 11 x 14 inch baking tray, lined with silicon coated parchment paper (draw circles behind the parchment if required). Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

2) Add the ground almond to the icing sugar mixture, break up clumps if any.

3 In another clean and dry bowl, whisk the egg white till frothy. Add in sugar in 2 additions and whisk till soft peak.

4) Add in the ground almond mixture into whisked egg whites in 2 addition, fold till incorporated. Lift the spatula to see if it falls ribbon-like.

5) Load the batter into a piping bag with round tip. Pipe into circles. Bake for about 5 to 8 minutes. The feet will start to form. Lower down the temperature to 110 degrees and further bake for another 15 minutes. Set aside to cool and remove from paper.

6) Pair them up and sandwich with Lemon Curd, buttercream or ganache. Refrigerate before serving.


















Frills in the making.

Airplane Cake

The cake is ordered by a loving wife for her husband's 32nd birthday. This is the second airplane cake I have made. I modelled this with reference to Ah Boy's toy, thus the plane looked a tad fat. This was a 1kg chocolate mousse cake so the plane was smaller. I encountered some problem attaching the wings and rudder. Partly my fault as I was impatient and start moving it around when the royal icing was apparently half-dried.


















To me, the ramp is an eyesore. I wanted to reduce the thickness of the ramp but it turned out not being able to support the plane's weight. I made the plane's wheels but that too, collapsed. So I had to choose between aesthetic and physics. It's a no-brainer anyway; science won.

























It was a challenge making it symmetrical and piping all those 'grass'. This is my design flaw, I should have used chocolate shavings on the side like my first airplane cake. But I have to admit, the 'grass' effect does look better.