Carrot cake macaron by AdB

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Prep time: 45 minutes                                                  Sitting & cooling: up to 1 hour

Baking time: 15 minutes per tray                               Yield: 15-20 macarons

Your tools:

• 2 big bowls and 1 small
• Sieve
• Spatula
• 2 piping bag (or 1 if you put the filling with spoon)
• silicone mat
• baking tray
• creativity and motivation

Ingredients for the shells

• 2 aged egg whites (around 65gr)
• 50 gr caster sugar
• 70 gr ground almonds
• 130 gr icing sugar
• Orange colour gel or powder (add 5gr or more for stronger colour results)
• Pinch of salt
• Sprinkles or sugar bits for decoration

As usually, I suggest that you prepare your ingredients in advance, in order to be able to focus on the different stages of your macaron making process. All is ready? Then off we go!

Method for shells

• Preheat your oven to 150 degree C and prepare your baking trays and silicone mats.
• Combine almonds with icing sugar and sieve it well. You can also put your almond-icing mix through food processor to ensure that there are no small bits of almond in it. All pieces that can’t be used you can save for later (if you plan to make an almond cake, for instance).
• Put your egg whites (directly from the fridge, or at the room temperature) into a clean and dry bowl. Start mixing your aged egg whites for a few seconds. Then add a pinch of salt, and sugar. Mix again until your egg whites are well mixed together and are not falling down, if you turn the bowl.
• You can start the macaronage process now. Prepare your spatula and add first half of your almond-sugar mix in the meringue. Then mix it from sides inside and divide the batter in two halves. Do it couple of times, but stop when it looks more incorporated. Add the other half and repeat again. Then add the colouring gel and continue mixing. However, be careful not to overmix your batter. Macaron batter can be really picky and gentle, so it is important not to overdo it. You will know that your batter is ready, when it slowly floats back into the mixing bowl when you lift spatula. If you are not sure check out my video on Instagram (Video 1 and Video 2).

• Pop your batter in the piping bags and start piping small macaron shells on the silicone mats. Leave some space between your macarons, so that they do not stick all together.

• Now you need to tap the air out of your macarons. Carefully tap your baking tray. Ensure you do it on all sides. You will see how some air pops out and your macarons get into better shape. If you still spot some of the air bubbles in the macarons, then just use tooth pick to remove them. Check out video on my Instagram to know how to deal with air.

• Now just leave your macaron to sit for around 30 minutes to 1 hour. Batter should dry and not stick to your finger. Add some decorations on your macaron shells (for instances some sprinkles or sugar bits on top of it). I have used some of the Waitrose’s bronze crunches and glitter strands (see below the pictures), as I thought that they would be perfect for my carrot cake theme.

• When your macarons developed a “skin” and has been beautifully decorated you are all set and ready to start the baking process. Bake your shells tray by tray. Baking time is 15 minutes. I usually bake my macarons for 10 minutes, then turn the tray and bake for another 5 minutes. My oven has some hot spots, so to avoid overbooked tops I do this trick. Your macs are ready when you touch them from the side and they do not move!
• Let your macarons cool down for a few minutes. Do not try to stick them off when they are still warm, it might damage your shell. Macaron shell that is ready will easily fall off the silicone mat or baking paper and have nice bottom.

The filling for your lovely macaron shells

For the creams that you can put in your macarons you have the following to choose from:

• Cream cheese buttercream by AdB
• Mascarpone buttercream from AdB

Keep in mind that you won’t need as much of it as in the original recipe as it is for the entire cake. So consider decreasing the portion mentioned in the links.

In my design for this macaron I have also used left overs from my carrot cake biscuit, and made some form of hearts, starts, flowers and butterflies to insert in the cream. You can find the recipe for the carrot biscuit here. The recipe in the link is for a cake, so consider decreasing the ingredients by at least half. As an alternative you can just put some cookie crunches that you might have at home, or even some carrot. Try to be creative, and let me know what you came up with.

Tip: if you don’t want to add carrot cake biscuit into your macaron, then try adding cinnamon and nutmeg in your cream. This will add some new and elegant flavours to your macarons.

 

The macaron creation

Take macaron shell and add some filling on it, then put other macaron shell on top and turn the shell clockwise. Repeat until all macarons have been build up. Leave your macarons in the fridge for a few hours, so that the cream is absorbed by the macaron shell for better eating experience.

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Any troubles during creation time? Check out my recent post on top-10 tips for macarons baking process, and solve your issues right away! If you still struggle, send me a message and I will help you out, see below for my contact points!

🗣Did you try out this recipe? Please share your results and tag @macaron_adb on Instagram with the hashtag #macaronadb to show your creations! And as always: any questions? Contact me via website, Instagram or Facebook. I also recently got an email address: contact@macaronadb.com so please feel free to drop a message.

Sweet times!

AdB