These Coronation Macarons are perfect for the upcoming Coronation. They have a red and blue shell and white vanilla buttercream centre and are topped with some white sprinkles.
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Macarons
It has been far too long since I posted a macaron recipe, October 2021 to be precise. I must admit I am a little shocked it has been so long. Although macarons are a bit faffy to make they are utterly delicious and an absolute classic.
Macarons are seen as a little bit of an elite bake. They can be slightly more expensive to bake due to the ingredients and you do need to be super precise when measuring out all the ingredients. However, it is 100% worth it for the delicious crunchy shell and soft chewy centre. Plus, the satisfaction of those little crinkled feet.
Meringue
The base of macarons is meringue, which is then mixed with ground almonds and icing sugar, but we will get to that.
To make the meringue you need to ensure that your bowl and whisks are clean. There should be no trace of water or any other products on them, otherwise, your meringue won’t work. The best way to do this is to wash your bowl thoroughly and wipe it down with some vinegar or lemon juice.
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You also need to ensure that no egg yolk ends up in the bowl, it should just be the egg whites. The egg whites need to be whisked on a low/medium speed until it starts to form stiff peaks. You do need to be really patient with meringue and macarons it can take around 10-15 minutes for the egg whites to reach stiff peaks.
Once the eggs have reached stiff peaks you need to add the caster sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, leaving a minute or so in between each addition to ensure that the sugar is fully incorporated. If you add all the sugar at once it will just cause your egg whites to deflate.
Sieving
So, this is the pernicketiest part of making macarons and you need to be very precise. The ground almond and icing sugar should be blitzed in a food processor for two minutes before being sieved into a large bowl.
Don’t force any of the mixture through the sieve. You want the almonds and icing sugar to be very fine with no lumps.
Once you have sieved the mixture and removed any lumpy bits, you need to blitz it in the food processor again this time for one minute before sieving it again and removing any of the lumps.
Macaronage
Macaronage is the process of beating together the egg whites with the other ingredients until it is smooth and flows like molten lava.
At this stage, we are essentially knocking the air out of the egg whites that you spent so long trying to incorporate.
This needs to be done by hand as you have a lot more control over the end result compared with using a mixer.
These macarons I decided to colour two different colours. So, what I did was I gently folded the ground almonds and icing sugar mixture into the egg whites until it was just incorporated and split the mixture into two separate bowls.
This way I could incorporate the food colouring as I was also macaronaging. To macaronage you want to essentially wipe the mixture against the side of the bowl smoothing it out.
The consistency you are after for the perfect macarons is when the mixture flows like molten lava off your spatula.
Food Colouring
As with my Coronation Cupcakes, I used red and blue food colouring. I used ProGels Red Food Colouring and Colour Splash’s Navy Blue food colouring in these macarons.
I would also recommend Sugarflairs Red Extra or Colour Mill’s range of food colourings. Any will work perfectly.
The food colouring should be oil-based rather than water-based otherwise it will ruin your egg whites.
Piping the Macarons
Macarons need to be piped onto your silicone mat or baking parchment using a small round nozzle.
This is going to sound very weird but just go with me. You are better piping them onto your silicone mat or baking parchment with your baking tray upside down. Yep, upside down.
Most baking trays have a little lip around the sides and this can stop the airflow around your macarons as they bake. So, turning your trays upside down helps airflow and bakes your macarons better.
Sprinkles
We all know I love a sprinkle and I couldn’t resist adding some white sugar strands to the top of these macarons. There are so many fab coronation-inspired sprinkles out there and any would work perfectly on top of these, but I felt as if I was going with a union jack theme for these macarons that the white ones would work best.
Resting
The macarons need to rest for at least 45 minutes to 1 hour before you can bake them. Resting the macarons lets them dry and form a skin on top. If you touch them gently none of the macaron mixture should transfer onto your finger and they should feel completely dry.
Baking
There are a few different ways to tell if the macarons are baked. The most obvious is that they should have little crinkly feet around the base.
Another is that they should be dry and if you lightly tap them they should be firm if you end up accidentally crushing one of them then they need another minute or two and then try again.
Macarons need to cool fully on the mat before you can peel them off. If you try and move them while they are still hot it can lead to part of them becoming stuck to the bottom and them tearing in half.
Buttercream
I went with a simple vanilla buttercream for the filling of these macarons but the beauty of them if you could literally use any filling, you fancy.
To ensure that the buttercream was as white as possible I beat the butter on its own for 5-10 minutes until it was soft, supple and paler in colour. I then added the icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat again for another 5-10 minutes. The longer you beat the buttercream the whiter it should become.
If you have some problems getting your buttercream white, you could use white food colouring. I recommend Colour Mills White food colouring. Or you could add a teeny tiny amount of purple food colouring to counteract the yellow of the butter.
Alternatives
If you wanted to make a white chocolate ganache filling instead of buttercream just follow the steps on my Blood Spatter Macarons and leave out the red food colouring.
Equipment
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Coronation Macarons
Ingredients
For the Macarons
- 200 g Icing Sugar
- 100 g Ground Almonds
- 3 Large Egg Whites
- 75 g Caster Sugar
- Blue Food Colouring
- Red Food Colouring
- White Sprinkles (optional)
For the Filling
- 50 g Unsalted Butter
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1-2 tbsp Whole Milk (optional)
Instructions
To Make the Macaron Shells
- Add the icing sugar and almonds to a food processor and whizz for 2 minutes.
- Sieve the mixture into a large bowl.
- Put the almond mixture back into the food processor and whizz for a further minute.
- Re-sieve the mixture into the large bowl and leave to one side.
- Whisk the egg whites until they start to form soft peaks. I did this using the whisk attachment on my KitchenAid but you could use a hand mixer too.
- Gradually add in the caster sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Leaving a minute or so in-between each addition.
- Once all the caster sugar has been added continue to whisk the meringue until they form stiff peaks and are glossy and shiny.
- Gently fold the almond mixture into your egg whites until they are just combined.
- Split the mixture equally into two bowls. To one bowl add the red food colouring and to the other bowl add the blue food colouring.
- Press the mixture into the sides of the bowl. This is called macaronage and you are trying to get the mixture to be as smooth as possible as well as incorporate the food colouring. You know it is ready when it flows like molten lava from your spatula.
- Add each coloured mixture to a separate piping bag with a small round nozzle and leave them to one side.
- Line your baking trays with a macaron mat or baking parchment
- Pipe the batter onto the mats or baking parchment. You need to hold the piping bag completely vertically or you will end up with wonky feet. Pipe the macarons around an inch or so apart so that they don't touch.
- Tap the trays on your worktop to knock out any air bubbles. If you see any air bubbles on top gently pop these with a skewer.
- Sprinkle over the sprinkles and leave the macarons for 45 to 1 hour so that a skin is formed and they are completely dry to the touch.
To Bake the Macarons
- Towards the end of the 45 minutes – 1 hour rest time preheat your oven to 150C (130C Fan). Bake the macarons for around 20-25 minutes until they have risen and have 'feet'.
- Leave the macarons to cool fully on the mat.
To Decorate
- Once the shells have cooled, carefully remove them from the tray and make your filling.
- Mix together the icing sugar, butter and vanilla extract until thick and creamy. If the mixture is too thick add 1tsp of milk and mix again. Repeat until the mixture is the desired consistency.
- Pipe the buttercream onto half of the shells.
- Sandwich the macarons together.
Notes
- These Macarons will last for up to 1 week in the fridge.
