First ever successful MACARONS!!!! (Attempt no 7!)

At last I've managed to make something that resembles a proper macaron!!!!!  For some reason these little meringues have been my baking nemesis but with the help of a shiny new KitchenAid mixer I've almost cracked it.  These were by no means perfect, the shells were very irregular in size as I didn't use a template and some were underbaked but they tasted great nonetheless!

I used the Italian meringue method for these which involves heating a sugar syrup to 118 degrees and pouring it onto whisking egg whites.  The first time I did this the syrup solidified as soon as it hit the eggs leaving me with a great big lump of crystalised sugar and an unhappy sounding mixer.  Undeterred I boiled up a second sugar syrup, whisked fresh egg whites and all went well second time around.

I didn't flavour these shells and filled them with a simple white chocolate ganache leftover from the damask cake I made previously.  Next time I'm going to try chocolate shells with a hazlenut filling and maybe some lemon ones with a sharp lemon curd.  The shells are very sweet so I'm not keen on the idea of a sugary buttercream filling, I think you need something tangy to stop them becoming sickly,

I've heard the French meringue method is more reliable so I think I'll give it a go to compare next time too.  Be prepared for lots of macaron posts coming up!!!

Almond Macaroon Cake

This is another recipe from my absolute favourite book at the moment, Home Sweet Home by Hummingbird Bakery.  I followed the recipe exactly so I won't reprint it but I totally recommend everyone should rush out and buy this book if they haven't already!

  The only slight addition I made was to add the roses on top to use up some of the extra marzipan (and to disguise the cracked top!)  I've only ever made roses using sugarpaste before which is less sticky so these ended up very rustic looking and a bit chunky but prettied the cake up nonetheless.

This cake caught my eye as I've tried several times to make French macarons but have failed miserably every single time so far.  The almond macaroon topping on this cake has the same taste and chewy texture but is much easier and quicker to make.  Next time I think I would add some food colouring to the mixture before baking and also leave it in the tin longer to allow it to cool fully which would stop the top cracking so much.

I'm still determined to master proper macarons though so look out for them on here when I finally manage it!