Totoro and Mei Earl Grey Salted Caramel Macaron Scene

 

I had a request for a macaron scene with birthday girl's favourite characters in there so I created this!

Totoro and Mei with elephant, giraffe and koala!

I used my default swiss meringue method recipe to make the macaron shells for the characters and the large round base. 

The trees are made of black tea brown sugar meringues. I got the basic recipe from a baker friend but tweaked it for the added flavours so I am not able to share it. 

Yes the entire tree is made of meringue! No royal icing or wires used to glue or support the structure. I had to build it up in stages like a 3D cardboard tree except all parts and glue are made of meringue. These were made in advance, thoroughly dried and stored in airtight container.

Here's a better view of all the characters. I usually make duplicates of each character in case of accidents while handling.

I filled the macarons with Earl grey Italian meringue buttercream (IMBC), homemade salted caramel and some crushed biscoff.

I folded in some salted caramel, crushed biscoff and some earl grey tea leaves into half of the Earl grey IMBC, and drizzled more salted caramel and sprinkled more crushed biscoff for the large macaron base.

 I have always used Swiss meringue buttercream as my default buttercream base but thought why not try Italian meringue based buttercream instead so that I can incorporate more brewed tea in the buttercream.

Earl grey Italian meringue buttercream (IMBC)
Ingredients:

76g egg whites (about 2 eggs)

100g caster or granulated sugar (portion about 1 tsp out for egg whites)

30g concentrated Earl Grey tea*

114g unsalted butter (cut into small pieces, cool but softened)

A pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

* Steep 4 Earl grey teabags in 60g boiling water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the liquid from the bags as much as possible. Measure out 30g for making IMBC

Steps:

1. Place sugar (100g minus 1 tsp) , concentrated tea and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan and heat at medium-low heat. Stir intially to help the sugar dissolve but once the water starts boiling, stop stirring. 

2. In the meantime, beat egg whites with 1tsp sugar until foamy. Reduce mixer speed if necessary to prevent overwhipping.

3. Once syrup temperature reaches 110C, turn up mixer speed and whip until soft peaks as you wait until syrup reaches 115C. Again, reduce mixer speed as necessary once soft peak is reached. Once temperature is reached, remove from heat. Turn mixer speed up to medium-high and pour the syrup down the side of mixing bowl in a slow and steady stream. Keep beating on medium-high speed for 10-15 minutes or until Italian meringue is cooled to room temperature.. It is important to make sure butter is not warm when you add the softened butter.

4. Add butter a little at a time while beating on medium-low speed. You may switch to paddle attachment if you wish but I prefer having less things to wash. Don't panic if it appears to split a little. just keep going and adding butter a little at a time.

5. After all the butter is added, add vanilla. Continue whipping but increase mixer speed to medium high and beat for another 2 minutes.

You may use the Earl Grey IMBC as it is. But I portioned out about half of the IMBC and added homemade salted caramel with the ratio of 

1:2 for salted caramel : Earl grey IMBC,

folded in some Earl grey tea leaves (about one teabag's worth) and crushed biscoff (about 30g). Do note that the ratios can be adjusted according to taste.

Sharing a picture of the assembled large base with a meringue tree before the tree gets hidden by the characters.

I hope this creation brought a smile to your face as it did for me and the recipient! 

Do check out my Instagram account at phay_shing for a more up-to-date view of my baking journey!

with love,
Phay Shing