Banoffee Macarons (Banana, Toffee and Cream)

The flavour of the week is Banoffee (click here if you've never heard of a Banoffee Pie before).

I made the filling by adding a mashed banana to some caramel (toffee and cream), and cooking it over low heat until thickened. The macarons are filled with white chocolate ganache to represent the cream and the banana caramel for the banana and toffee flavours. Surprisingly, the banana flavour is quite intense.

Passionfruit Macarons and a New Macaron Platter!

Passionfruit macarons on an amazing new hand-made porcelain platter (a gift from my friend Karen who brought it all the way from Shanghai).

Whipped Caramel Macaron

An idea came to me one night as I was stuck in traffic, driving home from work. Of course, dinner didn't get cooked till very late that night - I had to try my idea and see if it worked!

Sometimes I find ganaches a bit heavy and rich, but I'm not a fan of butter cream (cringe). So I wondered if I could make a whipped caramel ganache - and it worked! Make a caramel ganache and allow it to cool, then whisk it in an electric mixer for ~10 mins until pale and fluffy. Looks and smells amazing, but wait till you taste it!

Whipped Caramel Ganache:

125mL cup cream 

3/4 cup caster sugar

30mL water 

250 g white chocolate 

Heat the caster sugar and water in a saucepan and continue to boil until it is a light brown colour. Do not stir (swirl, brush down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush).

Remove from heat and VERY carefully (I burnt my hand!) add the cream to the toffee while whisking. The mixture will bubble and release hot steam. It might help to warm the cream up a bit before adding. This is now a caramel.

Place the white chocolate, chopped, into a bowl. Pour the caramel over the chocolate and allow to sit for a few minutes (to allow the chocolate to melt). Whisk together until well combined, and put aside to cool.

Once cooled, put into mixer bowl and whisk on high until pale and light (looks like a butter cream). 

Melbourne Macaron Day

Check out the Melbourne Macaron Website for details on Melbourne Macaron Day on the 26th of October!


"Melbourne Macaron is a student-run initiative that will see 20 establishments in Melbourne compete on Tuesday, 26th October at The National Gallery of Victoria in 3 categories; best signature, best chocolate & best designer. An overall award of Melbourne's Best Macaron will be announced."

New domain!

'Macarons by Erica' has a new domain!

http://www.macaronsbyerica.com/

Gingerbread Macarons

New Macaron Recipe

I was in Adelaide over the weekend and saw this recipe in one of their foodie magazines. I've modified it slightly, but it looks like it has potential...although the egg white powder is a bit of a hassle to find (they stock it at The Essential Ingredient in small or large tubs).

Ingredients:
5g egg white powder
180g egg whites ('old')
125g caster sugar
225g almond meal
320g icing sugar
2g food colouring of your choice

Method:
Oven temp: 160oC

Whisk egg whites with egg white powder and add caster sugar gradually until medium to stiff peaks form. Add in the food colouring until well distributed.

Fold in the sifted almond meal and icing sugar and continue to fold until the desired consistency is achieved.

Using a piping bag, pipe into rounds and allow to rest until a skin forms (anywhere between 10 mins to 6 hours!)

Bake for 13-15 mins (probably closer to 13 mins) and allow to cool.

Sandwich with your filling of choice!