Reduced-Sugar Earl Grey Macaron Tricycle

After my macaron ferris wheel creation, I had an inspiration to try another mobile macaron structure. Presenting possibly the world's first tricycle made up of macarons!

Complete with a cute rider!

Here's a view of the tricycle without the rider on it.

And of course I had to have fun making a video out of this :p.

See it in action!

I used the reduced sugar Italian method recipe to make the Earl Grey shells. I filled the macarons with Earl grey white chocolate filling that doesn't require refrigeration. Like the cookies n cream ferris wheel macarons, these are yummy too and not too sweet due to the tea flavour. The best part is, these macarons do not need to be refrigerated and can be stored at room temperature (27-28℃) in warm Singapore for about a week in airtight container. For longer storage, store in the fridge but let the filling soften at room temperature before eating.

Recipe for reduced sugar Earl Grey macaron shells
Ingredients (enough to make 2 tricycles):
Mass
110g superfine almond meal
100g icing sugar (without cornflour added)
3g cornflour
6g rice flour
1/8 tsp salt
43g egg whites
4g Earl Grey tea powder

Meringue
100g caster sugar
41g egg whites
32g water
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

Steps:
You may refer to this post for the detailed steps. But I will describe briefly here without going into the technical details.

1. Prepare baking tray with template.

2. Prepare mass by sifting all dry ingredients together. Add egg white and mix well.

3. Prepare Italian meringue. Heat sugar and water until softball stage while beating egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peak stage. Slowly add syrup while beating on high speed. Continue beating for another 12 minutes or so until meringue is stiff and cool.

4. Fold meringue into mass in two additions. Fold until batter flows in a slow-moving lava-like way.

5. Transfer to piping bag and pipe the pieces. Bang tray on table and pop trapped air bubbles with toothpick if necessary.

6. Dry shells in aircon room or under a fan until dry to touch. Bake in preheated oven at 140℃ for 10-35 min depending on size of the parts. Cool completely on tray before removing.

Freshly baked shells!

Recipe for Earl Grey white chocolate filling
Ingredients:
80g white chocolate, chopped (I used vanilla bean white chocolate)
20g vegetable shortening
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp Earl Grey powder (you may add lavender if you wish)

Steps:
1. Melt white chocolate with vegetable shortening in a microwave-safe bowl.

2. Add salt and Earl Grey powder. Mix well.

3. Let the mixture firm up till piping consistency before filling the shells by letting it sit on the counter for about 15 min. I like to fluff it up a little by beating the mixture. This makes the filling lighter in texture.

The tricycle is screaming for a rider so I made the ever iconic cheery bear macaron holding a bicycle horn this time :p. You may find the template for the bears in my Creative Baking: Macarons book.

Honk! Honk!

I have to admit that my first attempt at making the tricycle failed due to design fault. Macarons are really too fragile and the frame broke. This second attempt was a lot sturdier and could withstand my kids handling for two days. Just to share my first attempt here...

The chocolate macaron tricycle frame was too narrow and so it broke easily.

Although my first attempt didn't work, it gave me a better idea of how to design the macaron pieces. It was yummy too--chocolate shells with cookies n cream filling!


With lots of love,
Phay Shing