Every baker needs a few recipes to keep in their go-to stash. A cookie recipe, a frosting recipe and a chocolate cake recipe. Here I’m sharing the recipe The Princess Baker uses to make decadent, rich chocolate cake and cupcakes.
This chocolate cake recipe is so easy, you only need one bowl to make it. The ingredients are simple and you will always have them on hand in your pantry. How easy is it to make? It’s as easy as dump the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Your little kids can make this in a flash! Seriously! You mix the dry ingredients and whisk together. Dump the wet ingredients on top and let your mixer do the work.
Can You Freeze This Chocolate Cake and Cupcakes?
Absolutely! Not only can you, but I do! I recommend freezing individual, unfrosted layers as opposed to a frosted cake. Simply wrap the layers in cling wrap, then foil and place in the freezer with the date baked on it. For even better protection you can double wrap the cake and place it in an airtight container to make sure it doesn’t take on any other flavors. You can freeze this recipe for up to three months and thaw it in the fridge overnight.
Ingredients
(Yields 2 8″ rounds, 2″ inches high or 24 cupcakes)
2 cups white sugar
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two eight inch round pans or line cupcake tins. (Time will vary depending on the size of your cake pans being used)
2. In a large mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients, the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
3. Use a whisk and mix until dry ingredients are well combined.
4. Add all the wet ingredients. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
5. Stir in the boiling water using a spatula. For a fudgier cake, use less water. Pour evenly into the prepared pans or cupcake liners.
With back to school around the corner, it’s time to recognize some heroes amongst us… teachers! These awesome individuals are so severely under appreciated for all the things they do to shape and mold the minds of children of all ages. So I’m putting my Princess spin on the idea of ‘an apple for the teacher’. Why not present this year’s teacher with an apple cinnamon cream puff that looks like an apple!
How do you make a cream puff look like an apple? There’s a couple different tricks up my sleeve. Beyond flavoring both the pate a choux dough and the filling with flavors of apple, cinnamon, and nutmeg, I add coloring and decorative details to give it an apple appeal. Get it? A peel? I’m hilarious.
First, there’s the craquelin. Choux au craquelin may sound super French and elegant, but it’s simply a fancy way of saying adding some extra flavor and texture. Craquelin very closely resembles a sugar cookie dough recipe, consisting of sugar, butter, flour, and a pinch of salt. It’s rolled out, cut, and placed gently on top of piped choux dough. When baked together, it produces puffed pastry with a crackly-looking appearance plus a crunchy texture.
Apple Choux Decorations
Decorating pate a choux dough isn’t something that most people think of. Cream puffs in and of themselves are already bite sized and cute, and when placed around a cone to make a croquembouche, they’re already decorative. But I love adding color to choux dough as well as extra decorations for an even more eye popping visual appearance. Adding chocolate decorations to these apple flavored cream puffs is the cherry on top, er the apple? Insert apple joke here.
Ingredients
For the craquelin
50 g (3½ tbsp) Butter
50 g (6½ tbsp) All purpose flour
50 g (4 tbsp) Sugar
Red gel food coloring
Pinch of Salt
For the pate a choux dough (the cream puffs)
70 g (5 tbsp) Water
50 g (3½ tbsp) Butter
60 g (8 tbsp) All purpose flour
2 Medium Eggs
Pinch of Salt
Red gel food coloring
For the filling
400 g (14 oz) Heavy cream
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 apple finely chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F)
For the craquelin
In a bowl, mix soft butter with the sugar, flour, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Add red gel food coloring.
Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper
Form a ball of pastry, and put it between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll out to for a sheet about ¼ of inch thick.
Refrigerate at least for one hour or freeze for 30 minutes
For the cream puffs.
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter and a pinch of salt.
Bring to the boil, and add the flour all at once, stirring until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the pot. Add gel food coloring.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating in well after each.
Pipe the chop pastry mixture on to the cookie sheet.
Cut the craquelin pastry into round pieces, same size cream puffs and set on top of each choux bun.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until brown and very crispy.
For the filling
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Make sure the apple pieces are small enough to fit through the pastry tip.
To assemble
Pipe the filling into the cream puffs making a hole in the bottom of each one.
Baking time will vary based on the size of the pastry mounds and how many you make. Start checking them after 15 minutes of baking.
Confession: I don’t always have heavy cream on hand. It’s not something I consistently need in my baking, so I really only need it when I’m making ganache. And let’s face it, it’s sometimes a pain in the a** to have to run to the grocery store to pick up ONE ingredient that you don’t have. Yes, I’ve tried freezing it in the past, but it hasn’t worked out well for me. So I thought, there has to be another way…. And there is!
EVeryone knows how to make ganache. Heat heavy cream and pour it over chocolate then stir. Simple. So why does this recipe need messing with? Because it does. And it can be made in another way with ingredients you ALWAYS have available.
Heavy cream provides two things for the ganache. First, it provides liquid to coat the chocolate so it can be heated and dissolved into. Second, it provides more fat, as the secret ingredient in most desserts is fat. So how do you replace these two components:
Milk and Butter.
Yep, these two things that are always available in your fridge are what make this recipe work. The milk provides the liquid. And when I say milk, I mean WHOLE milk, not low fat, not 2%, not skim. Will it work with almond or oat milk? I don’t know I haven’t personally tried it yet. But it does with whole milk. Then butter. I prefer unsalted butter but I have tried it with salted and it worked perfectly fine with that as well.
This is brilliant. I’m not entirely sure if there are health benefits to changing the recipe, like less calories or slightly less fat, but if you have ever read the side of a heavy cream bottle, I’m sure there are less calories.
What’s great about this recipe is its very versatile. You can use it to make chocolate drips on instagram worthy cakes, whip up frosting to top cupcakes or fill macarons and even freeze it to ball truffles. All the things you can do with traditional ganache. (Although I like the regular truffles better than this, but they are still doable.)
You can easily double or triple this recipe as needed, just make sure your measurements are correct. And if you need better instruction, head to my you YouTube channel The Princess Baker for a video tutorial.
Pastel colored cakes like this one tiered fantasy are always in fashion. The combination of soft hues works for so many occasions. Today I’m showing you all the tips and tricks to make this beautiful, pastel colored, one tier cake with chocolate drips and topped with matching macarons. With a few easy steps, you can make this cake, perfect for birthday parties, bridal showers and baby showers.
I’m starting with four layers of my classic vanilla cake. There’s a link to the recipe below. Dab a bit of buttercream frosting to the cake board to act as glue and begin to stack that cake. Today I’m using my magic swiss meringue buttercream. It’s so easy to make and tastes a little like ice cream. It’s amazing and you can find the recipe for it here.
Continue stacking cake layers with frosting in between. Because this cake will be fondant free, I’m using a little extra frosting in between the cake layers. The frosting will extend beyond the cake and help aid when we make our crumb coat. I push down slightly on each layer of cake to squeeze any air out between the cake and frosting.
Let’s do that crumb coat. This base layer of frosting on the side of the cake gets its name from ‘catching’ the crumbs. Once chilled, it also functions by locking in the air from the cake. It doesn’t have to be very thick because there will be more coats on top. Make the top level by using a scraper to bring the frosting towards you. Then its off the fridge to firm up.
Before we decorate with our pastel colors, let’s add a second layer of frosting to this cake. This layer will serve by giving you a smooth surface around the cake and cover any cake that is showing. Add a good amount of frosting to the sides and then using a scraper, an offset spatula or whatever you have, smooth down the frosting into the cake. This gives a smooth cake surface for when you decorate or cover with fondant. You can then fill in any areas that need a little more frosting. Just keep repeating until you’re happy and then back to the fridge to chill.
While it’s chilling, let’s color our frosting for decorating. This cake is for my girlfriend’s daughter and she requested four pastel colors for her birthday, so I’m dividing my buttercream into four bowls and adding a few drops of gel food coloring. I’m partial to Americolor brand (no they don’t pay me to say that) because there are so many shades to choose from. The birthday girl asked for shades of lavender, light blue, mint green and soft pink. I love what she chose because they are girly, fun and perfect for both spring and summer.
Transfer each color to it’s own piping bag and tie off. Now we’re ready to decorate the cake. I’m starting with pink. Cut the tip of the piping bag or use one with a wide tip, and pipe stripes around the base of the cake. For this cake the colors do not have to be perfect as they will be bleeding into one another. Add green, then purple and finally blue towards the top.
Now using your scraper, push the icing into itself. The goal here is not to remove the frosting, but push it down onto the cake. See how the frosting is becoming smooth, that’s the look we want. Stop when you need to, to remove the excess frosting from your scraper. Like the second coat of frosting we did, add more to areas that need it with the corresponding color. I decided to add more blue to the top as well. You don’t need to do this since it will be covered by ganache.
For the top I decided to make macarons in the matching cake colors and use the rest of the frosting in between. The light blue, white, purple and brighter pink are going to make such a great statement. I even made her some heart shaped ones that She’s going to love! If macarons have troubled you in the past, check out my post on how easy it is to master making French Macarons.
I’m adding white chocolate ganache drips. For this I like to use a squeeze bottle for better control. Simply make your ganache and pour it into the bottle, then apply to your cake. I love the way the drips look. The colder your cake, the more the drips will stop, but I want them going all the way down today. Then cover the top of your cake in white chocolate ganache for an even look. Add your macarons and you’re done.
Bryce loved having this pastel colored cake for her birthday. I hope you enjoy making it for your own celebration.
Get into the spirit this Fourth of July with red, white and blue patriotic decorated cakesicles. Are you not on the cakesicle wagon yet? Forget cake pops, they’re so last season. These bites of cake heaven on an ice cream stick have caught the fancy of all. I love how versatile a canvas cakesicles are. They can be adapted to any theme and for any event, not to mention they are super cute, delicious, and charming. For me, cakesicles are a great way to use up the leftover cake and cake scraps. If you’re a beginner, making them is WAY more forgiving than cake pops. Here I’m showing you four different, easy ways to make cakesicles for your backyard BBQ, firework watching party, or any other way you celebrate America’s birthday.
To make our cakesicles I will be using a variety of silicone molds, candy melts in red white and blue of course, and a variety of sprinkles. Start by creating our cakesicle dough. I’m using a six inch cake of my classic vanilla cake recipe that I’ve cooled in the fridge and American buttercream frosting as my dough binder. Break the cake into crumbs and add frosting. Then mix until it combines into the dough mixture.
Let’s start with drizzled cakescicles. Begin by coating the mold with melted chocolate. Using a spoon place melted chocolate in the cavity and cover the bottom, then smooth it up the sides. This layer will be the front of the cakesicle so make sure there are no open spaces for the dough to play peek a boo. Give the mold a little shimmy to evenly disperse the chocolate and get rid of air bubbles. Then it’s off the refrigerator until the chocolate is firm.
Once firm, place dough into each cavity, packing it down with the spoon or your fingers. Make sure not to fill it over the edge or lip of the mold. This will ensure the chocolate backing will have an even edge and cover the dough properly. Next encase the dough with more chocolate. Use blue to cover blue, white for white and red for red. But you can always mix and match for some extra fun. Don’t forget to insert that popsicle stick. Refrigerate until the chocolate is hard, then you can remove the popsicles for decorating. If your cakesicle edge is less than neat, here’s a great tip on smoothing those out. Place a knife or even an offset spatula in a cup of hot water, pat dry and use to smooth down that rough edge.
To drizzle I’m using a piping bag and I always test to make sure the chocolate flows properly. Then start drizzling. I’m making diagonal stripes, but you can make swirls, dots, however you want to add some pizzazz. I’m drizzling opposing colors, but let your creativity run wild, there’s no rules. When the drizzled chocolate is still wet it acts as glue. After drizzling spoon some sprinkles on top.
Next, let’s make firework cakesicles. I’m using a mold with some pattern on it for these. The big difference is the chocolate bottom, or front. Instead of covering it evenly, we’re going to make a splatter of color, like a firework. If you have kids, they will have a blast, pun totally intended, making these. Think Jackson Pollack for cakesicles. I use one color to cover, white because it’s the lightest and will allow the other colors to pop. The blue and red are swirling with the white in a soupy mess and the result will actually be a beautiful blending, and no two of these will ever be alike. Don’t forget to completely cover the side as well. Then it’s off the fridge to chill.
Fill with dough, but not above the lip and cover with more chocolate. Because my main color was white, I’m sticking with it, but feel free to mix it up. For extra added effect, you could swirl the back. Give a shimmy so it evenly spreads and back into the fridge to cool. Removing these are my favorite because you have no idea what they will look like and I love how different each one is. That’s what makes these fun.
Next let’s make sprinkle center cakesicles. This mold features an indentation in the center. That’s where our sprinkles are going to go. Begin like before, fill the cavity with melted chocolate, making sure to use the spoon to cover the sides, then off to the fridge to chill. Remove from the mold, when firm so you can see the indentation where the sprinkles will go. For the center, add a little chocolate glue and smooth it down. Now add sprinkles. Easy right?
Next up: the American flag.
Similar to the drizzles at the beginning, coat the mold with red chocolate including the sides and chill. Then add the dough mixture and cover with more red chocolate. Give a shake, insert stick and set aside to chill. To decorate you will need white and blue fondant, a rolling pin, water, a brush for the water, and a knife. Start by rolling the blue fondant for the flag. You want the fondant to be thin, about 1/8 of an inch. Roll a circle, trim it in half, and then cut that in half so you have one quarter of a circle. Use a brush to paint a layer of water to use as glue, then cover the upper left part of the red cakesicle. Fold the excess down and trim so it’s flush. Smooth the fondant over to so it’s straight and now you have your blue.
Next roll the white fondant into a long piece for the stripes. Slice away the end so you start with a straight edge. Then cut your first stripe. Cut off the ends so you work with all straight pieces and use some more water to act as glue. Place the stripe flush with the blue to act as a guide and trim the ends. Then repeat to create more stripes.
Time for the stars. I actually sifted through my sprinkles to find the white stars for this and it was totally worth it. Using a piping bag, dot blue chocolate on the flag part for where the sprinkles go. Then carefully add a star to each dot. By using blue chocoalte, it will camouflage any bits of chocolate peeking out from behind the star. Continue adding more chocolate across the blue and continue covering with stars, gently guiding each into place.
If you’re like me, you have wondered what in the world you have to do to get your buttercream frosting colors to be brighter. Sure you could dump what feels like a gallon of gel coloring on your frosting, but then you risk the taste being….not so great.
But fear not! The princess has put her science hat on with her crown and discovered the hack to make your frosting colors, bright, vivid and vibrant. It is crazy easy, involves one tool that you are SURE to have in your kitchen and takes only a few moments to witness the magic. Get ready for it: microwave the frosting.
I know, I know, you are saying “won’t that turn my frosting into a soupy mess?” The answer is yes! And that’s the point! You know how they say baking is a science? Let me break down the science of how and why this works.
Butter is an emulsion. It sounds fancy and scientific, but simply stated, an emulsion is a mixture of two liquids that ordinarily resist one another. A classic example is oil and water, they just don’t mix. But what if they did?!
There are two types of emulsions: water-in-oil and oil-in-water. Butter is a special case emulsion, because it’s a water in oil emulsion.
Most butters in America are 80% fat, about 15% water and the rest are salts, proteins, etc. A solid stick of butter is solid fat with tiny droplets of water suspended throughout. When butter melts, the water and fat separate from each other. Here’s how it works: The water in butter contain remnants of the cream from which it was made—proteins. These proteins act as emulsifiers, coating and separating tiny fat droplets as they disperse into the liquid when the butter melts.
You know how so many recipes call for room temperature butter? Even heating up to only room temperature, this is the scientific reason why. Cold ingredients do not emulsify together. There’s no way to get around it. This results in everything from clumpy frosting, chunky cheesecake, dense cake, greasy muffins and deflated breads. No bueno.
Once separated when the butter has melted, the resulting butter soup is more viscous, or let’s say clingy, than either melted butter or water alone. So that melted butter is now holding on for dear life to the gel food coloring and tada!: color absorption and vibrant colored buttercream.
Cold butter is like a shut door and there’s no access to the emulsifying fats. By bringing your butter to room temperature it’s like opening the door and hanging a welcome sign to come on over and enjoy those emulsifiers. So if that’s what happens with room temperature butter, then putting it in the microwave is like having a huge house party! All the ingredients, especially ever bit of liquid from the gel food coloring comes to have a drink and the buttercream color intensifies.
So that’s one reason the color brightens. The other is the heat itself. When you make buttercream frosting, you lighten the mixture as you incorporate air when you whip the butter and sugar together. Most baking recipes begin with creaming butter and sugar together. Butter is capable of holding air and the creaming process is when butter traps that air. When you microwave it and add heat, the air comes out and darkens the mixture.
So never mind that you made buttercream soup! Pop it back into the fridge until it firms back up, give it a quick whip, and poof! Vibrant colored buttercream.
PRINCESS TIPS AND TRICKS FOR BRIGHTER BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
* Use a high fat butter for your frosting.
* Only add gel food coloring. Gel food colorings are more concentrated and water based colorings won’t mix as well.
* Test your microwave. Different microwaves have different wattages. Start with a few seconds. Figure out the happy sweet spot.
* Make sure the frosting firms up completely. If buttercream appears too soft, put back in the refrigerator.
* Remix! You want everything reincorporated.
If you are a frosting fan, this is the recipe you’ve been waiting for. This Swiss meringue buttercream frosting recipe is sweet and creamy and actually tastes like vanilla ice cream! Plus it only takes 10 minutes to make and you only need one bowl! Be still my heart, I think I’m in love! It is a dream on top of cupcakes and underneath fondant, it doesn’t crust, it’s basically perfect.
I’ve always hated making Swiss meringue buttercream because of the double broiler. I was never sure I would not overheat the eggs or not get the sugar completely dissolved. Forget the trial and error, I just didn’t want to deal with it. With this mock SMBC is so easy, it feels like cheating. I never need to worry again. It’s all about the secret ingredient… pasteurized egg whites.
I can hear you saying “egg whites that aren’t cooked in my frosting? Are you crazy? Is that even edible?” The answers are yes, egg whites in the frosting, yes, I might be a little crazy, and surprisingly, yes, totally edible! Thanks to pasteurized egg whites, you can skip the egg white separating, the heating and whipping to meringue! The rich taste and silky texture is nearly identical to traditional SMBC. Call it faux, call it mock, call it fake, call it lazy. I call it magic. And you need to TRY IT!!!
Many types of buttercream, like Swiss, Italian, and French have eggs in them. The eggs are heated over a double broiler (or for those fancy people, a Bain Marie) to 71C (160F) with the sugar dissolved in. The egg is often whipped into a light and fluffy meringue and then softened butter is whipped in. In traditional SMBC, fresh egg whites and granulated sugar are cooked together to dissolve the sugar and cook the eggs. Not anymore! With this recipe, we skip this step entirely by using pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar and STILL end up with silky smooth, super creamy, dreamy frosting. Note: undercooked egg whites are not recommended for pregnant women just to be on the safe side.
I promise you yes. There’s only four ingredients, you only need one bowl, and it only takes 10 minutes to make. Don’t believe me that it’s easy? You can even make this with a hand mixer! Yes. Buttercream frosting. With a hand mixer.
LET’S CREDIT THE GENIUS
This princess is all about giving credit where it’s due. In this case, it goes to the Swiss meringue buttercream queen, Lauren Kitchens. This brilliant cake decorator was the first one who came up with this brilliant idea and I want to make sure she gets a shout out. Click here to head to her website.
What Are Pasteurized Eggs
Pasteurizing is the process of gentle heating to kill food born illnesses and make a product safe to drink or eat. Many other items are pasteurized, including orange juice, milk, and wine. Pasteurized egg whites are safe for anyone to eat. I find my pasteurized egg whites in a carton in the egg section of my grocery store. The word “pasteurized” will appear on the box, usually in VERY small print. If you don’t use the whole box to make frosting, you can use the leftovers to make an egg white omelet.
PRINCESS TIPS, TRICKS AND FAQ
Butter Substitutes
Using good quality, real butter is best, but you can substitute it with margarine, vegan butter, or vegetable shortening. No guarantees it tastes exactly the same, but you can use whatever is your preference! My SMBC is Splitting
The buttercream splits because it’s too cold. Take out 1/3 cup of the buttercream and melt it in the microwave until it’s just melted and then whip it back in. That little bit of warm butter helps it all come together again.
My SMBC is Too Soft
Buttercream is soft or firm depending on how warm it is. If it’s too soft, it could be your butter was too soft when you added it in or the mixer warmed it up. Put the buttercream in the fridge for 20 minutes then whip it again and it should firm back up. If it continues to be lumpy after several minutes of whipping, but about a half cup of the frosting into the microwave for about fifteen seconds to warm it up a bit. Then return the warmed frosting back to the mixer and whip it some more. If your frosting is too loose, you can add a little bit more powdered sugar if you like a sweeter frosting. Or put the mixer bowl in the refrigerator for about a half an hour, then beat it a little bit more before using it. My SMBC is Gritty
Some people have said their buttercream has a grainy consistency, but I have never experienced this before. If you have this issue, try sifting your powdered sugar before adding in the pasteurized egg whites and mixing the egg whites with the powdered sugar on medium for 5 minutes to dissolve the powdered sugar.
How Long Will SMBC Keep?
Easy buttercream will last for 2 days at room temperature, 2 weeks in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer. If your buttercream is cold, make sure to whip it up again before using it. Bring your buttercream to room temperature and begin whipping it. Then remove 1/3 cup of the buttercream and microwave it until it’s just barely melted, then pour it back in while whipping to make it smooth again. How to Color SMBC
Add a few drops of gel food coloring to this buttercream to color it. It holds color well and gets darker overnight. Just be sure to not add too much food coloring or you’ll be able to taste it. How to Make Chocolate SMBC
To make chocolate buttercream, chop 12 oz unsweetened chocolate, and place it in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Once the chocolate is melted, let it cool until it is completely room temperature. Add the melted and cooled chocolate to finished SMBC frosting. Mix on low speed until the chocolate is completely incorporated.
INGREDIENTS
4.5 f ounces of liquid pasteurized egg whites (1/2 cup)
18 ounces of powdered sugar (4.5 cups)
About half a teaspoon of salt
18 ounces of unsalted butter (2.25 cups) make sure it’s at room temperature!
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
RECIPE:
1. Combine the pasteurized egg whites, powdered sugar, and salt in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix everything together on low speed, until the sugar has dissolved and no dry patches remain. You do NOT need to whip to a meringue. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula, then turn the mixer to medium speed. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
2. Add in your salt and vanilla extract. You can also substitute any other extract or emulsion flavoring that you like. Using clear vanilla extract will result in a whiter finished buttercream.
3. After 2 minutes, turn the mixer to medium-low and start adding the softened room temperature butter, 1-2 tablespoons at a time. DO NOT be tempted to add the butter all at once. It will just make a soupy mess. Once all of the butter is incorporated, add the vanilla extract and mix it in. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides once more.
4. Turn the speed to medium and beat the buttercream for 10 minutes. At the end, you’ll have a frosting with a wonderfully light and creamy texture.
I’m whisking you away today to Paris, with French macarons. These delicate cookies look gorgeous on a party plate and make your guests feel ultra special. Maybe it’s because they are so bougie, they definitely have a more elevated feel than cookies or cupcakes, and maybe it’s because they aren’t as common in the USA as they are in Europe, but a platter of macarons makes you feel special.
It also might be because they are the most temperamental, finicky, and frustrating pastry to make. But fear not! This princess has the tips, tricks and instructions to make you a master at macarons! This easy to follow French macaron recipe makes a batch of the most delicate, and delicious cookies that are bite sized treats you might eat in one sitting. Did I mention they are gluten free?
Macarons can also be customized in a variety of ways to give you endless options to use them as a dessert or a snack. Pick a color of the rainbow and use gel food coloring to make them any hue you want. Flavor them, both by adding extracts in the batter, but also in the sandwiched frosting. Don’t want frosting? Try ganache or jelly. One bite, and you’ll hear La Vie En Rose start to play.
French macarons are delicate sandwich cookies with a crisp exterior. Each individual cookie is known as a macaron shell. The shells are made without any chemical leaveners and get all of their lift from properly beaten egg whites.
What Is A “Perfect” Macaron?
Many people only care that their macaron is delicious, as that should be the standard for all desserts, right? But there are defining qualities beyond taste that make a quintessential macaron.
Consists of a shell with a crunchy exterior; however, it should be chewy, light, and airy!
Has a shell with “spongy” layers and plenty of air pockets. However, the shell should not be hollow.
Has a smooth and perfectly round top.
The shell should have ‘feet,’ which are the little ruffled, frilly edges on the base of it’s shell.
So why are macarons so difficult to make?
If there’s one thing to know before baking French macarons at home, it’s this: these cookies require precision, patience, and practice. Macarons are often described as “finicky” and require a baker’s undivided attention. Even with proper technique, well-honed “macaronage” skills and the best ingredients money can buy, you aren’t guaranteed a perfect macaron. I use to follow recipes perfectly and things still went horribly wrong leaving a princess throwing a pity party. Because there is a certain element out of our control which without considerable experience one may not know how to adjust for: Humidity.
French macaroons are incredibly sensitive to moisture above everything. This is why some recipes call for “ageing egg whites” as when egg whites get old they loose some moisture. In areas with high humidity almost year-round it is recommended to have the air-conditioning on while making them.
Ultimately I practiced and persevered and now I have the secrets to perfect macarons. I no longer have to go to Paris for my pursuits. Ok, enough alliteration!
Fun Macaron Facts!
The First macaron originated in Italy and not France
According to legend, Catherine de Medici brought the recipe with her from Italy when she married Henry II of France in 1533. Surprisingly, the 16th-century Italian cookbooks mention almond biscuits closely resembling macarons, but under different names. The first macarons were just cookies, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. In 1792, the macarons started to gain fame as two Carmelite nuns sold macaron cookies. It was not until the 1830s that bakers served the two-by-two by adding jams, liqueurs, and spices.
Macarons have a something in common with pasta
The root word of macaron comes from the word macaroni. Yes like pasta macaroni. They both translate into “fine dough”.
Macarons are gluten-free
The ingredients used in a traditional macaron are naturally gluten-free: almond flour, powdered sugar, egg whites, granulated sugar. Many fillings including frosting, ganache and jam are also gluten free.
Tips For Making Perfect Macarons
As I said before, these little guys require patience and precision. There may be a lot of rules or guidelines to follow for making great macarons. However, it’s easier to be aware of these tips to make a great macaron without the heartache of learning by trial and error (and this Princess has learned from her mistake)! Here are my master tips to creating macarons:
Accurately Weigh & Measure Your Ingredients
If you have ever heard the phrase “baking is a science” they were talking about macarons. Measuring and weighing your ingredients is essential when making macarons. You can’t get away with a dash of this and a pinch of that or measurements that are just a little off. Even a couple grams off can ruin a bath.
Sift The Ingredients
Before preparing the meringue, ensure the almond flour and powdered sugar is free of lumps. This can be achieved by sifting the dry mix. Not only do I sift this mixture, I sift it twice, just to make sure. Because the batter is folded together and not traditionally mixed, making sure your dry ingredients are well-blended is essential.
Make Sure Your Egg Whites are Properly Mixed
The egg whites should be at room temperature before being whipped into a meringue. No egg yolk must be present in the egg whites as it may ruin any chance of the mixture reaching stiff peaks. Make sure that your mixer is beating your egg whites between medium-low and medium-high speeds. Any faster, and you could
have oddly textured macarons due to overwhipping.
Check the Consistency of the Batter
When mixing the batter for your macaron shells, you want to do so slowly and meticulously. Above all, check the consistency from time to time to know when to stop. I stop when the batter flows from the spatula in ribbons and I can draw a figure ‘8’ without it breaking.
Use a Macaron Mat or Template
While no one is going to turn away macarons that aren’t exactly perfectly shaped together, having either a macaron mat or a printed template can help ensure proper sizing of each shell. These mats are indented to help ensure that your batter piping is precise and that your macarons come out looking like they should.
Bang Out the Air Bubbles
Don’t be afraid to bang that baking tray! Air bubbles can cause hollows as well as bumpy shells. Bang away on your counter to pop those air bubbles out.
Let The Macarons Rest Before Baking
Macarons need their beauty sleep. After piping, let your macarons sit for 30 minutes before placing them in the oven. This allows them to grow a “skin” where their surface will become smooth and dry to the touch. You should be able to touch them without leaving a mark. It helps achieve that perfect look.
Practice Makes Perfect
No matter what, don’t give up after your first batch. It took me four before I found I had the hang of everything. Particularly with the macronage, trial and error was involved. But once I saw what I was doing right and wrong, I never made those mistakes again. These babies are well worth it!
What is Macaronage?
Macaronage is the process of working macaron batter into a shiny and flowy consistency that easily pipes into smooth macaron shells. You may have heard this term before and rightfully so– it’s a crucial step in this macaron recipe. During this stage, you want to be sure not to overmix or undermix the batter. Undermixed and thick batter can produce lumpy or hollow macarons. Overmixed and thin batter can produce cracked macarons or macarons without feet.
Balanced macaron batter after achieving that perfect macaronage is best understood through visuals. Use my video above as a guide. The best advice I give is how to fold the batter from the under side. It’s best to go very slow so you don’t accidentally overmix.
Troubleshooting French Macarons
Hollow Macarons: It’s always so frustrating to bite into a macaron only to have it filled with… nothing. If your macarons are hollow, the batter was likely undermixed or overmixed. Pay attention to the proper macaronage. Additionally, make sure you pop and air bubbles in the piped macaron batter as directed in the recipe. And finally, play around with your oven settings. The oven could be too hot or the macarons could be under-baked.
Macarons Have No Feet: Avoid over-beating the egg whites and over-mixing the macaron batter. Make sure you let your piped macaron batter dry/sit out before baking.
Cracked on Top: There are many reasons for cracked shells, and it’s hard to know which was the culprit. They may have been over-baked, the batter may have been overmixed, air bubbles in the piped batter may not have been popped, and/or the egg whites may have been over-beaten.
Runny Batter: Your macaron batter will be runny if you overmixed it, deflating more air than intended. Macarons baked with runny batter will over-spread, aren’t likely to develop feet, nor will they have the intended chewy texture. This is why the macaronage step is crucial. Fold the batter together slowly and perform the figure 8 test a few times until you have the correct consistency.
My recipe uses the French method. All you will need are five ingredients
EGG WHITES: The bulk of French macaron batter is meringue made from properly beaten egg whites. Don’t use pasteurized egg whites. It’s imperative that NO egg yolks make it into the recipe.
Age The Egg Whites: It’s helpful to “age” the egg whites in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours prior to starting this recipe. Why? Egg whites that have been separated and set aside in advance have a chance to relax, which improves their elasticity during the whipping process. Elasticity is certainly beneficial when you’re trying to whip egg whites into a lofty volume. Some bakers skip this step, saying that it’s a waste of time but I’ll tell you this: most of my failed macaron batches did not include aged egg whites.
CREAM OF TARTAR: The acidity in cream of tartar helps the egg whites hold onto air and helps prevent the egg whites from collapsing. If you live in a humid area, you may want to add more cream of tartar.
GRANULATED SUGAR: In small additions, granulated sugar is beaten into the egg whites. If you can find superfine sugar, use that.
ALMOND FLOUR: Almond flour is the ONLY flour that works in this French macaron recipe. Almond flour is much finer than regular flour and made from blanched, skinless almonds.
POWDERED SUGAR: Powdered or confectioners’ sugar adds bulk and sweetness to macaron batter.
INGREDIENTS:
100 g egg whites room temperature 3 large eggs
140 g almond flour 1 1/2 cups
90 g granulated sugar just under 1/2 cup
130 g powdered sugar 1 cup
1 tsp vanilla 5mL
1/4 tsp cream of tartar 800mg
INSTRUCTIONS
Measure out almond flour and powdered sugar
Sift almond flour and powdered sugar together. Do this twice.
Separate egg whites. (Aging egg whites works best). Make sure whites are at room temperature.
Make meringue by whipping egg whites and incorporating granulated sugar.
Add cream of tartar to stabilize meringue.
Add dry ingredients to meringue 1/3 at a time.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the meringue. This is called macronage.
Stop when batter falls like ribbons.
Transfer batter to a piping bag.
Pipe out on a non slip mat in equal mounds.
Tap tray to release air bubbles.
Let macarons rest for 30 minutes before baking
Set oven to 300 degrees.
Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate tray midway if neeeded.
Enjoy macarons.
Meringue cookies are light as air, beautifully sweet, and so easy to make! I love to flavor mine with a drop of good vanilla but almond, orange, strawberry are great choices too. And don’t forget about peppermint during the holidays! These cookies are so versatile.
They might not look like much, and they may not seem very exciting, but they are everything you want a delicate, marshmallow-like treat to be. Did I mention gluten free, fat free and light in calories? Yeah, they’re that too! Enjoy eating them by themselves, or use them as decorations on cakes or toppers on cupcakes.
These delicious treats typically have a sweet flavor and have a crisp outer surface, with either a light chewy or crisp textured interior. Add a few drops of gel food coloring and get ready for vibrant, decorative effects. The shape of meringue cookies are generally achieved by using piping tips in a piping bag, and once formed to the desired shape, they are baked in an oven on a low temperature.
Now, don’t be intimidated at the thought of making meringue cookies because of whipping the egg whites or the long bake time in the oven. They are actually so simple to make. Even a beginner can master these sweet little guys. I have lots of tips, tricks, and pictures to guide you every step of the way, to make sure you produce perfect meringue cookies.
PRINCESS TIPS AND TRICKS FOR MERINGUE COOKIES
• Crack each egg in a separate bowl when separating the whites. Even a tiny bit of yolk can ruin your meringues, so crack each egg in a small bowl before adding it to the bowl that you will be mixing the meringue batter in.
• Make sure that the bowl and beater that you are using to beat your meringue is completely grease and moisture free. Any moisture can ruin your meringues.
• Drizzle the sugar in VERY slowly while the mixer runs. You can add in a teaspoon at a time or just go for a slow cascade of sugar. Just give it a chance to dissolve before adding more. It makes a huge difference in the quality of your meringue.
• Don’t stop whipping until you get stiff peaks. The batter will take several minutes, at least, of beating to achieve stiff peaks, but keep going. It will increase in volume and be very thick and glossy — that’s what you’re looking for! See the video tutorial for a visual.
• You can test that the sugar is completely absorbed by taking a small bit of the batter and rubbing it between your fingers — if it’s not, it’ll feel gritty.
• Pipe your meringue as soon as it’s done. Meringue will lose consistency if it sits around for a while.
• Center rack is best for baking.
• Leave your meringue cookies on the cookie sheet in the oven for at least an hour and don’t keep opening the oven, they need a nice warm dry place to hang out after baking.
• Climate may affect your cookies. I live in South Florida where it’s incredibly humid all year round. So add extra cream of tartar and bake a little longer if humidity affects you.
• Don’t have cream of tartar? You can sub in 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice.
• If you’ve found that your meringues have gotten soft after you finished baking them, you can actually pop them back in the oven at 225F for another 10-20 minutes (watch them, if they begin to turn golden brown around the edges turn off the heat immediately) and then let them cool in the oven for another hour.
HOW LONG DO MERINGUE COOKIES LAST?
Your Meringue cookies will last up to two weeks at room temperature as long as they’re kept dry. Storing in a sealed container is best.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN THEY ARE DONE?
You’ll be able to lift your meringue cookies off the paper easily. They will feel very light and will be completely dry. Remember to bake them at a very low temperature for a LONG time. This drys them out without browning the cookies.
WHY ARE MY MERINGUE COOKIES CHEWY?
Your meringues will be crisp once the oven has dried out all the moisture in the egg whites. If it was humid when you made them they will wick up more moisture and soften. Leave your meringues in the oven after they’re done baking for at least an hour to finish drying them out and if they become chewy after being left out you can bake them for about 10 minutes at 200F.
INGREDIENTS:
egg white 120g (about four large eggs)
sugar 132g
vanilla extract 5g
cream of tartar 5g (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Set oven to 200F.
2. Separate the egg whites one at a time into a small bowl then transfer each white to the bowl of your stand mixer. You really don’t want to get any broken yolks in your bowl so separating them individually contains the damage if anything happens.
3. Add the cream of tartar to the mixing bowl when the egg whites become frothy or foamy. Mix on low and gradually increase the speed to high.
4. Once the egg whites have frothed up you can begin SLOWLY sprinkling in the sugar. When in doubt go slower instead of faster. This step makes a big difference in your final meringues so remember to take your time and add the sugar in gradually.
5. After the sugar has been added whip in your flavoring. If you want your meringues to be whiter than white you can add a clear extract.
6. Add only a small amount of coloring. A little goes a long way in coloring meringue.
7. Your meringue is done once it has a thick marshmallowy texture and can hold stiff peaks.
8. Hold the parchment paper down on the baking sheet by adding a small drop of meringue batter to the corners.
9. Use a pastry bag to pipe your meringues with space between each for airflow. Hold the piping bag straight up at 90 degrees. Squeeze the piping bag while it’s about 1/2 an inch from the paper, lift as you squeeze then stop squeezing but continue to lift the finish the meringue.
1. Bake at 200F on the center rack for about an hour then turn the oven off and keep the door closed for an additional 1-2 hours. . Leave the oven door closed and allow cookies to cool completely in the oven before removing.
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