Earl Grey Lavender Pink Unicorn Macaron Carousel (unicorns with closed eyes this time!)

Unicorn macaron carousels are perhaps the most popular macaron request that I get, with character macarons coming in at the second place. Not wanting to repeat the exact design again, I decided to draw the unicorns with eyelashes and eyes closed this time :)

Rainbow coloured name was requested.

I used the non-reduced sugar macaron shell recipe but used icing sugar that already has cornflour added in. Both regular and reduced sugar recipes can be found here. You may refer to my Creative Baking: Macarons book for a systematic presentation of the basics and complex shaped macarons. You may refer to my video tutorials for macaron basics and piping of complex shapes on the blog too. You may refer to this post for the dimensions of the shells required to make the carousel and the respective baking times. I piped a scalloped roof like the one similar to the sheep macaron carousel as I think it's really pretty and it is very helpful for positioning the paper straws during the assembly. Checkout the sheep carousel post for detailed steps of assembly.

I decided to make a video tutorial for piping the unicorns since unicorns are so popular now.

Just to share some pictures of the process...

Freshly baked shells for the carousel structure

I usually fill macaron carousels with white chocolate base that has shortening mixed in but without heavy cream. This is to ensure that the structure remains stable even in Singapore's hot and humid climate. But after studying the structure again, I realised that the large macarons in the central pillar and roof need not be filled completely with very firm filling. I used a combination of firm white chocolate base filling and softer ganache that has heavy cream added to fill the shells. Ganache based fillings usually taste better that the white chocolate and shortening based ones. So using a combination of these two types of fillings imparts structural stability and better taste as the same time. Recipe for Earl grey and lavender white chocolate filling cam be found here. The Earl grey white chocolate appears darker here because I used a different source of tea powder this time round. Recipe for Earl grey white chocolate ganache can be found here. I just added some dried Lavender flower powder into the ganache to enhance the Earl grey flavour.

Here is how I filled the large base macaron and the smaller rounds for the pillar...

Outer ring is lavender white chocolate. The dark brown ring and center circle is Earl Grey white chocolate. The light brown ring is Earl Grey lavender ganache

The smaller rounds are filled with lavender white chocolate at outer ring, Earl grey white chocolate in middle ring and Earl Grey lavender ganache in the center.

The whole assembly can be stored for a few days in a cool and dry place without refrigeration.

With love,
Phay Shing