Cupid Hello Kitty Strawberry & Dark Chocolate Macaron Carousels

I made not just one but two girly pink Hello Kitty macaron carousels! One regular sized and one downsized. Kitty is dressed up as a cupid this time :)

I used the non-reduced sugar macaron shell recipe but used icing sugar that already has cornflour added in. 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.

Just to share some photos of the process...

I piped carousel base and roof of different sizes as the carousels are of different sizes.

I piped the letters using macaron batter instead of my usual royal icing. I painted some gold and glitter lustre dust dissolved in vodka post-baking.

Piping the Kitty shells!

Freshly baked kitties! Check out the awesome feet!

The intricate bow and arrow and ribbon are made of royal icing.

Freshly baked circular shells for the carousel frame. Looking pretty in a stack :)

Dark chocolate flavour was requested but for aesthetics, I decided to add a layer of strawberry white chocolate so that it looks visually more pleasing when assembled. I used dark chocolate ganache for the circular shells in the middle, followed by dark chocolate and strawberry white chocolate. The latter outer layers do not contain heavy cream whereas the ganache does. You may refer to this recipe for dark chocolate ganache. I used about 80g worth of dark chocolate ganache.

Recipe for filling
Ingredients:
Dark chocolate
85g dark chocolate, chopped
20g vegetable shortening
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Strawberry white chocolate
120g white chocolate, chopped
30g vegetable shortening
2 tsp strawberry emulco
3/8 tsp fine sea salt

Steps:
1. Place chocolate and shortening in a microwave safe bowl. Melt at medium power for 10-20 seconds and stir. Repeat until melted and smooth.

2. Add salt and mix well with spatula.

3. Gradually add flavouring and mix well. Note that adding strawberry paste/emulco all at one shot may cause the white chocolate to seize.

4. Transfer to piping bag and fill the shells.

Filling up Hello Kitty with dark chocolate and strawberry white chocolate 

Both recipients think it's too pretty to be eaten :p. The dilemma that comes with requesting for something as pretty as this from me!

With love,
Phay Shing