Random Macaron Ramblings and Things I've Learned

I've been thinking a lot about these little babies lately... They really are all the rage right now with everyone trying their hand at them - me included of course.

When I want to know about something I will read and read, search the internet, watch Youtube videos and practice practice practice.

The lists of the do's an dont's are as long as your arm with Macarons.  But these things I have found to be true this week as I have churned through 8 different batches of them in 2 days:  Remember I use the French Macaron Method - not the Italian Meringue Method.

1. Don't get too hung on up your measurements - Ive started using about a 50/50 mix of Almond Meal to Icing sugar but I guess the split between two batches.  What Ive found is that its more about the 'Macaronage' (the mixing) than it is about the proportions in your mix.
2. Ive discovered - thanks to my friend Karen - the BEST BEST way to sift that flamin almond meal is to firstly measure it out and combine it with the measured icing sugar then blitz in the food processor for about 2 minutes.  Ive discovered this works for 2 reasons.  Firstly it makes it all a lot finer and secondly, the dry Icing Sugar helps dry out the somewhat moist texture of the almond meal making it easier to sieve.
3. Get yourself THIS sieve!  I could sieve almond meal all day long with this.  The key is to add only a few spoonfuls of it in at a time.  If you put to much in it glugs up.  I used an icecream scoop and scooped 1-2 scoops of mix in at a time to sieve and hey presto finished in a few short minutes.
4. Macaronage : The artful part of creating that elusive texture just right for the macaron to be perfect.  Crisp on the exterior and beautiful on the interior.  Don't be too delicate here.  I must have watched about 15 videos on YouTube of people mixing macarons.  What was just the 'right' consistency.  The best tip I picked up was when you think you are runny enough but not too runny - get a teaspoon and take a spoonful of mix and drop it onto a small plate to make a macaron shape and see if it settles properly.  Any ridges should be assimilated by a quick tap or shake.  If not - then go back and work a few more turns thru your mix then test again.
5. Piping the perfect circles:  I found a wonderful template online which was free to download and you just slide it under your baking parchment and you cover the dots with your mix - hey presto uniform shapes.  Just google 'Macaron Template".  Also I have found greater control piping with a smaller Wilton Nozzle on my bag.
6. Righto - now we come that part where you want to get the little 'skin' on your macaron.  The skin is important in order to create the 'feet'.  However in my many experimentations I have also found it can also be the cause of cracked shells.  So, here's what you need to do.  Its a fine balancing act between leaving them long enough to sit to form the skin - anywhere up to an hour they say but Ive never had to wait that long.  But....here's the catch.  On pain of death do not wander away - start some other activity or get distracted.... because if you leave it too long and the skin starts to dry too much, you get a thick skin that will cause a cracked shell when it hits the oven. So keep an eye on them.  Pop back and give them a nudge every few minutes or so.
7. Here's another little nugget of gold info I learned.  Some recipes say to get rid of any lingering little holes or peaks on your shells by slightly wetting your finger and then pressing them back in.  Yep this works on the uncooked shells - but BEWARE - if you accidentally leave any water on the top of your macaron - you will get a 'bubble' on the top of your shell when you put it on the oven.  So just be careful if you use this method.

Right - thats all I have to say on the matter for the moment.  I am by no means an expert but in the past few weeks I have made so many batches that I felt I wanted to share what I have learnt along the way.  Remember trial and error is all part of the learning process and to be honest thats why I love baking.  Its like an experiment.  Everything from the number of strokes you use to mix, to the warm and cold spots in your oven, to the relative humidity in your day or kitchen plays a part in how any given baked good will work on any given day.  Thats the challenge!!!

Happy Baking.  Above are the macarons I have created which will form the Macaron Tower I am in the process of completing.  Pics will follow next week of the completed tower - with NO MORE macaron ramblings I promise.

Lxx

Come with me, Under the Sea...

Its been a weekend of two cakes.  Two very very different cakes.  Both very definitely gluten free from beginning to end.  Both Chocolate Mud Cakes.  Both beautifully moist and totally de-railing my sugar-free run of the past month or so...doh!

This first cake was obviously a 21st cake but it was also my very first 2-tier cake which was a bit exciting.  The cake is in actual fact 3 cakes.  Two larger cakes on the bottom, leveled and filled with dark chocolate ganache, then crumb coat sealed with dark chocolate ganache.  The top cake was a double quantity baked in a smaller tin but with the sides lined high.  The top baked a little crisp but this was easily carved off when the cake was leveled, halved, filled with ganache then crumb coated with the same ganache.  Here are the finished cakes before assembly.

The brief for the cake was to incorporate both the underwater world as seen through the eyes of a diver as the birthday girl has just completed her Dive Master's course, and an above water element capturing the beach, lifesaving etc  in which she was also very competitive.

I was able to make a great many of the elements well in advance of assembly so that the final put-together would be more about placement rather than flat-out construction.  Here is a pic of many of the creatures and elements as I was making them.

I experimented with a new type of fondant on this cake too.

Its apparently quite new and has just arrived from the USA.  Rather than your boring non-descript coloured fondant- you can now choose your colour and your FLAVOUR with which to compliment your cake.  It was wonderful to work with.  It goes a long way, is not as sticky as traditional fondants but I have one word of caution.  If you are using it to create fondant figures that will require rigidity - this fondant will not give you that.  I created the Wooden Sign using this fondant and it looked fantastic.  Just the right colours - I was able to write on it clearly and easily but it just would not become totally rigid.  After two failed attempts at getting the sign hard enough to stand I had to resort to painting the back of the sign with tempered chocolate which then added the rigidity needed to keep the sign from tipping over.  Flavour and texture wise it is beautiful and ALL Gluten Free!

The cake was then covered in tinted blue fondant.  As I was using traditional fondant this time I decided to experiment by adding a flavouring to the fondant and added a few drops of butter flavouring to the plain fondant and it just lifted the flavour from plain sweet to something a little more interesting.  Both cakes were covered and then I stacked them.  I did not use dowels in the cakes as the Mudcakes on the base were so dense I was in no fear of any sinkage or collapse but I did have a cakeboard under the top tier cake.

OK - now we're talking.  Everything always looks so hokey as you assemble it.  I edged the cakeboard with black satin ribbon, centered the cakes then applied a light application of heated jam to the board to have the brown sugar stick to.  The light brown sugar was then sprinkled evenly all over the board.  This dries hard and stays well in place and looks exactly like sand.

Now to start positioning all the creatures and items.  This takes longer than you think as you have to think about which side to present it from, how it will look from all angles, what to do with spaces, gaps, uneven areas on the cake that need to be disguised etc.

I placed all the items on and rearranged them quite a few times until I got something I thought worked well.  Then I added the accents of the waves.  Dusted Silver Lustre Dust onto the waves, edging and some of the creatures to accent them and give them some shimmer.  I had to use 3 pieces of heavy grade florist wire which was wrapped.  One in the Palm Tree Trunk - to take the load from the fronds; one in the LifeSavers Flagpole; and one in the sign to hold it in on its jaunty angle.  My son was more fascinated at how I had managed to get the diver and the shark to 'float'.  They were just held in place with Royal Icing and wedged from underneath until dry and hard.

The birthday girl was very happy with her cake and that is the main thing with any creation isn't it ?

Lxx