Unicorn Macaron Carousel II (reduced sugar recipe)

 I made two unicorn macaron carousels at the same time!

Pardon the short post as I am really busy and will be busy till Mother's Day because I have a huge order to cater to. Challenging but it's a privilege to bake for many mums :). Just to share some pink carousels with unicorns flying around :)

I made two carousels as one is for a request and the other is for the book event display.

You may refer to this post for the unicorn template and piping instructions, and this post for the size of circles and assembly instructions for the carousel. I have filled these with lemon white chocolate too. I strongly recommend you to get a copy of my Creative Baking: Macarons book which covers the basics to fancy shaped macarons, including troubleshooting guide and recipes for fillings that are less sweet.

This was made during my experiment with reduced sugar macaron shell recipe.

Although it's great to know that reduced sugar option is available, the batter is slightly different to work with. Rice flour substitute for icing sugar seems to affect the drying time although I can't conclude just yet. It took me a longer time to dry the shells but the weather was really humid. I tried cornflour replacement and I find the texture a little too chewy for my liking although drying time seems shorter. The unicorns and round shells here are made with rice flour replacement and the texture is still delicate. I tried a combination of rice and cornflour and it seems to work pretty well with rice flour : corn flour = 3:1

Just to share a couple of pics during assembly...

Assembling the base structure and the roof. These have to be left resting overnight to ensure structural stability.

Assembling the unicorns. These have to be left to firm up overnight too to prevent the unicorns from slipping down the pole.

I hope these pretty carousels put a smile on your face as it did to mine when I finally could sit back and admire them :). Now back to my biggest macaron mania of making 800 cheery bear macarons! Holding flowers this time.

With love,
Phay Shing