Among Us Salted Caramel Macarons (Imposter flavour included!)

How time flies! When I first started on my baking journey, my kids were both preschoolers. They are now in their tweens/teens! Over the years, what they request for birthday bake evolves as they grow. My younger kid is turning 11 soon and for his birthday bake, Among Us macarons was requested. This game is the latest craze among teens today. He loves salted caramel anything so I filled the macarons with salted caramel swiss meringue buttercream and a dollop of salted caramel in the middle....

.... Well... Not all of them are filled with yummy salted caramel. Of course I had to include an imposter, or two 😉. You can't tell which one is the imposter just by looking at them. 

I made sure that even the filling looks like the real deal. 

One of them is the real deal and the other is the imposter. Can you guess which is which? 

I must admit that the idea of filling the imposter with a weird filling came from a meme I saw where the imposter was filled with wasabi amongst the others which were filled with Matcha. 

I filled the imposter with oyster sauce soy sauce swiss meringue buttercream and oyster sauce salted caramel in the middle 🤣. My kid gave a funny face when he ate it😂. 

I used the Swiss meringue method to make the macarons as it is not a huge batch but it has many colours. You may refer to this post for the recipe for the macaron shells. I used Wilton #6 tip for piping. 

Piped batter

Freshly baked shells

I used black royal icing to outline the shells. 

I love this shot! Puts a smile on my face😊

I had to take more photos of these because they look so cheerful! 

And more photos 😂

You may refer to this post for the salted caramel recipe. You may double the portion if you would like to make more salted caramel. Extras can be frozen for several months. 

Salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream

Ingredients:

75g egg whites (about 2 large eggs worth) 

50g caster sugar 

1/8 tsp salt

135g unsalted butter, cut into tbs sized cubes, firm but not cold and hard

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g salted caramel

Steps:

1. Bring a saucepan filled with about 1 inch of water to simmer. Place egg whites, salt and sugar in a heatproof bowl set on the saucepan without the base of the bowl touching the water. Whisk the egg whites continuously until 70C, using candy thermometer to monitor temperature. 

2. Remove from heat and beat using electric mixer until stiff peaks form and meringue is cooled to room temperature. 

3. Add butter one cube at a time while beating with electric mixer. Don't worry if it appears to curdle. It will all come together eventually. Once all the butter is added, beat on high speed for 2 minutes more. 

4. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined. 

5. Weigh out 200g of swiss meringue buttercream. Leave a little vanilla smbc for the imposter(s). Add 100g of salted caramel to the 200g of smbc. Beat with electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to piping bag to fill the macarons. 

I filled the macarons with a ring of salted caramel swiss meringue buttercream and a dollop of salted caramel in the middle. 

For the imposters, I didnt really measure precisely. I just added oyster sauce and soy sauce to the vanilla smbc until it looks like the real deal. I added some oyster sauce to the salted caramel. 

Ta-dah! The imposters! They look like the real thing, don't they

Store filled macarons in the fridge in airtight container. Best to wait for a couple of days for the filling to mature the macaron shells before eating. Remember to let the container rest at room temperature for 15 min before opening to avoid condensation from forming on the shells. This is ideal but the way I presented for my kid to "play" meant that the same container had to be taken in and out of the fridge several times (he is only allowed one macaron to eat each time). To avoid the condensation from turning the remaining macarons soggy, I placed a paper towel in the container to absorb moisture, and open and closed the container as quickly as I can. 

I usually bake enough for my younger kid's whole class but due to the Covid situation, he can't do that for his birthday this year. Nonetheless, it is one of the more fun birthday bakes for him 😊. 

With lots of love, 

Phay Shing