Hannah's Chocolate Macarons

Before embarking on this month's challenge, I had heard from numerous people that macaron making was not an easy thing to do and often if you succeeded this was down to luck rather than anything else. Suitably worried I decided to do some research and see if i could find a recipe that seemed to be more hit, than miss. Firstly there was the discussion on whether to make french or italian meringue and some people say you should leave the macarons for an hour before cooking, others 15 minutes, also some say to use 4 day old egg whites and others suggest fresh. So after all this conflicting information I thought i'd just try the simplest recipe and keep my fingers crossed.

I used the recipe from Delicious Magazine

The first part is to mix the egg whites in to stiff peaks and add the sugar. In another bowl I sieved ground almonds, icing sugar and cocoa powder, as I was making chocolate macarons. The almonds took quite a while to sieve and I sieved the mixture twice to make sure that it didn't have any lumps.

The plan is then to fold all of the ingredients together. I then added all of my ingredients to a piping bag; I find it easier to put the piping bag inside a vase and turn the outside of the bag around the top of the vase so that I can scoop the mixture in without getting a lot stuck to the side. I found the mixture to be really thick (slightly worrying as most of the recipes i'd seen had said the mixture was really runny). I soon discovered my first mistake of attached a star nozzle, rather than a circular nozzle. When piping the mixture the star nozzle made the mixture come out in swirls, which aren't ideal when wanting a smooth macaron shell. I then dropped the trays down on the surface to get rid of any air bubbles and allow the mixture to spread out.

After 30 minutes (supposedly to allow the macarons to get feet?!) I popped them in the oven. After 15 minutes or so I took them out the oven. They did smell amazing, but looked quite thick and a bit more substantial that macarons normally look.

I used a recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book for the filling. The filling is normally used for Whoopie Pies and is made up from unsalted butter, cocoa butter, icing sugar and vanilla marshmallow fluff. The marshmallow fluff is literally a tub of marshmallow, like you get inside of chocolate teacakes.

Once the macaron pieces had cooled, I tried to find equal (ish) sized pieces and pair them together, whilst battling to scrape them off the supposed grease proof baking paper. I then spooned some of the mixture on one side of the macaron and pieced together.

So, the final result tasted really good, however was of thicker texture than a standard macaron and was by no stretch of the imagination a smooth finish. They went down really well with the family and my boyfriend said they tasted like the ones in the shop (however I feel he might be slightly bias).

I'm not sure I would try to make them again, as although they tasted okay they didn't look macaron like and will stick to buying them in future, unless one of my fellow Queen's of Tarts has managed to perfect the art of macaron making ...

Sarah's attempt at macaroons!

Well - these were a bit of a disaster!

For this month's challenge bake, I decided to use Lorraine Pascale's recipe for macaroons which I found on the BBC food website - see link here http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/macaroons_04669.

I used raspberries to flavour them, but I added a bit of red food colouring to make the colour more intense without making the mixture too sloppy. Overall the recipe was easy to follow and quite simple, but I was struggling without the use of an electric whisk for the egg whites. As a result, I don't think the mixture was stiff enough, and piping these babies out on greaseproof paper was a nightmare. I rested them before baking but after an hour I still didn't have a skin on the top - perhaps this is why they aren't nice and shiny. 

Although you wouldn't think it from the photos I did attempt to use a template to keep my macaroons the same size! For the filling I used fresh cream flavoured with rose water. 

Not sure that I'd get many points from Paul Hollywood for consistency...! They were nice though and I would have another go once I get an electric whisk (don't worry, it's on my Christmas present list!)

Guest Bake - Melissa's Coconut Ice!

Prep-time15 mins and over night to set.

Ingredients
Butter, for greasing397g
can condensed milk
350g desiccated coconut
350g icing sugar
Pink or red food colouring

Method
You will need a 23cm x 20cm x 4cm deep cake tin. Rub a little butter over the inside of the tin with baking paper. Pour the condensed milk into a big bowl. Add the coconut, icing sugar and mix really well. Spoon half of the mixture into the square cake tin, then flatten it by pressing with damp fingers. Add a few drops of pink or red food colouring to the mixture left in the bowl and mix evenly. Spoon the coloured mixture over the top of the white layer and use damp fingers to smooth the top. Loosely cover and put in a cool place overnight to set and dry out. Use the baking paper to lift the coconut ice from the tin, then cut into about 40 pieces. Store in an airtight tin in a cool place for up to 3 weeks.

Baker's tip This coconut ice needs a day to set, so don’t be tempted to eat it beforehand. 

The month of November is well and truly underway which means a new baking challenge! This month we will be attempting the French macaroon or macaron. Not to be confused with the coconut biscuit of the same name! The macaron as we know it today was created by Pierre Desfontaines. Desfontaines worked for the famous tea salon Ladurée and first attempted to sandwich 2 pieces of macaron together with a filling. 

Macarons come in all different flavours from chocolate, pistachio and raspberry with fillings varying from jam and butter cream. These gorgeous sweet treats are very much the biscuit du jour! Fun and colourful they make the perfect gift. As we are heading towards the festive season (all going well!) perhaps our friends and family will benefit from our bake this month…!

Malteaser Cake

Cakes are great at any time of the year, but no more so than on a birthday. I wanted to make a bit of a showstopper cake for one of my best friends and fellow Queen of Tarts blogger, Katherine. We are both keen watchers of Lorraine Pascale's cookery programmes and we were both drooling at the thought of this cake as soon as we saw it. Not only is it a chocolate cake, but it is covered in Malteasers, what is there not to like? After buying what felt like hundreds of Malteasers I was ready to give it a go ...

The recipe for the cake is pretty easy to follow and I was excited to use my newly returned KMix electric whisk (a Christmas present from last year that I have only just had fixed and returned to me). The mixer made quick work of the ingredients and I poured the mixture in to 2 round sandwich tins and put them in the oven.

Once the cakes had cooked, I left them to cool completely and put them to one side whilst I made the chocolate buttercream frosting. The frosting was basically softened butter, melted chocolate and icing sugar. The most difficult thing about making the frosting was that it only needed 100g of melted chocolate and that the Bourneville bar i had bought was 200g, but it is encouraged that you should try your recipe along the way ...

I used about 1/3 of the frosting to sandwich the 2 cakes together and then used the remaining frosting to cover the cake completely, with the assistance of a palette knife to try and keep it neat. It was important to keep a reasonably thick layer of frosting around the cake to allow the malteasers to stick.

      

Next came the most tricky part of the cake, placing all of the malteasers on. Lorraine suggests going up the side of the cake, over the top and then back down the other side, so this was how I started off. I was tempted at one point to throw the whole cake on the floor in frustration, but I had to admit defeat on getting perfectly straight lines. It does take a lot of patience and time to cover the cake, but I think the end result is worth the effort.

Katherine had organised an afternoon tea for her birthday and so I took the cake along as a surprise bake. Although slightly bashed in the 2 hour car journey, the cake had stayed pretty much in one piece and it had the desired effect of being a slightly over the top, but 'show off' cake!

I would definitely recommend for people to make this and it really does look impressive when finished and tastes just as good.