Matcha Dark Chocolate Macaron Mustard Tree

"He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."" 

Matthew 13:31‭-‬32 ESV

These were the Bible verses that my friend told me she wanted to be portrayed in a birthday bake for her daughter, saying that her husband and herself hope that their little girl's faith will grow like a mustard seed, from something small to something big and beautiful. I know the context of these verses are about kingdom of God but you get the picture 😊. Here was what I made out of macarons! 

Macaron tree with birds making their home in there! 

This isn't the first time I am making the macaron tree. I made it last year for a Totoro themed bake and you can take a look at it in this post. While I painted the foliage last year to create the ombre effect, I baked each folliage layer in a different shade of green this time round. I used the Swiss meringue method to bake the macaron shells, adding cocoa powder for the brown shells and matcha powder for the green shells. 

Piped batter

I decided to paint on the details of the birds so the macaron shell baked was just a plain white canvas. I used a mixture of royal icing, edible paint made by dissolving gel food colouring in vodka, and black edible marker to decorate the birds. The birds' nest was made out of stiff royal icing coloured naturally with cocoa powder and piped over a silicone hemisphere to create the shape. I also piped some loose pieces of twigs to add on later during assembly. 

Decorated birdies with some loose twigs in view

I filled the macarons with firm matcha white chocolate ganache and dark chocolate ganache, just like I did for my macaron tree last year. 

Filling the base shell

The little girl really loved this gift and almost couldn't bear to eat the birds 🤣. 

May your faith grow over the years as your parents hope for you! 

With love,
Auntie Phay Shing