Ombre Birthday Cake Macaron on Lychee Rose Sponge & Pudding Cake

I have a request for a macaron "birthday cake" on top of a lychee rose sponge and pudding cake. Here it is :).

In order to create the ombre pink "cake", I baked three 10cm diameter macaron shells. A heart shaped "happy birthday" sign was requested so I baked some purple heart shaped shells as well. The tricky bit about baking large macaron shells is the baking temperature and time. You may refer to this post for macaron recipe and baking temperature and time for 10cm shells.

Here are some photos of the piped macaron batter...

I used some purple sweet potato powder to colour melted white chocolate to create the little purple hearts on top of the cake. Royal icing was used to create the "cream" on top of the cake and the flame on the candle, which is just a short section of a paper straw. I filled the "cake" with lychee swiss meringue buttercream.

Ta-dah! My first macaron cake!

Recipe for the lychee rose sponge and pudding cake can be found here. I scaled it to a 3 egg yolk 4 egg white recipe to fit two 7" round baking pans which I cut to form 6" circular cakes. Don't throw away the cake cut-out as it will be used later. Briefly, the ingredient list for two 7" lychee rose chiffon cakes...

3 egg yolks
10g caster sugar
45g canola/ vegetable oil (I used coconut oil that only has a faint coconut smell)
45g canned lychee puree
1/4 tsp rose water
1/4 tsp lychee flavouring
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
60g cake flour

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
45g caster sugar

I used aluminium foil to wrap the base of an adjustable cake ring to assemble the cake. I poured excess pudding mixture into a silicone baking tray (or tray lined with silicone baking sheet/mat) to create leaf shaped pudding cut-outs for decorating the cake.

The bit of sponge cake cut out is used to line the base of the pudding cake. This is to cover the pudding base that can appear a little untidy.

Do not store the macaron decorations with the pudding cake as moisture from the pudding cake will cause the macaron shells to turn soggy. Place the macaron decorations on the pudding cake just before serving. Store both sponge and pudding cake and macarons separately in the fridge in airtight boxes.

Thank God that the macaron and cake were very well received! As usual, I get the comment that the cake is refreshing :). Perfect for eating after a sumptuous birthday meal!

With love,
Phay Shing