Lychee Purple Unicorn Macaron Carousel

It's another unicorn macaron carousel! But this time with a more unique flavour - lychee! And in sweet pastel purple this time for a young girl :).

You may find my other unicorn carousels over here, here and here.

I used the regular recipe for the macaron shells. 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 added 1/8 tsp of lychee flavouring to the mass to add some lychee flavour to the macaron shells. As the flavouring is quite strong, a little was sufficient to lend a subtle lychee flavour. When adding liquid flavouring to shells, be careful not to add too much or it will affect the drying time.

What is new here is the filling which I have come up with. In order to make a strong but not overly artificially flavoured lychee flavour, some lychee fruit has to be added. The challenge was to do this without making the filling too wet as the carousel structure needs a firm filling at room temperature in Singapore's hot weather. Fresh or canned lychees have a lot of water content so using the puree would not be suitable for carousel fillings.

I discovered freeze-dried lychees and found them to be perfect for this!

I ground some freeze-dried lychees to make about two tablespoons worth of fruit powder. You may use a good processor to do this but I used the more traditional method of mortar and pestle.

Recipe for lychee white chocolate filling
Ingredients:
160g white chocolate
40g vegetable shortening
1 tsp lychee flavouring
2 tbs ground freeze dried lychees
1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Steps:
1. Place chopped white chocolate and shortening in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 10 seconds at medium power and stir. Repeat until mixture is smooth and melted.

2. Gradually add salt, dried lychee powder and lychee flavouring. Mix well after each addition.

3. Let the "ganache" stand at room temperature for 15-30 minutes or until toothpaste consistency. Transfer to piping bag and fill the macaron shells with it.

Here's the half assembled macarons carousel structure.

I made a few extra loose unicorns to join in the fun too!

So glad the birthday girl loved this sweet carousel in her favourite colour :).

With love,
Phay Shing