Happy Cat Macaron Carousel III

I prefer making personalized birthday bakes that are meaningful and special to the birthday boy or girl. I also prefer not to repeat designs. That's how this macaron carousel came about even though it's my third time making a happy cat macaron carousel. It's for a little boy who loves cats, candy and fish 😊

The carousel is filled with vanilla white chocolate buttercream and strawberry dark chocolate ganache

You may take a look at my first two happy cat macaron carousels over here and here.

I used the same reduced-sugar Swiss method recipe as the piggy macarons I made for Chinese New Year. So I won't be typing out the detailed recipe here. Just to share some photos of the process...

Piping the cats

Piping the carousel roof. Using Teflon sheets instead of parchment paper helps to prevent creases on the underside of large macaron shells but it's optional.

I decorated the cats using royal icing, edible marker and lustre dust

Checkout the awesome feet!

I had some extra macaron shells so I broke it to check the insides. Nice and fluffy!

I will share the recipe for filling over here. Due to the hot Singapore weather, I make firmer fillings for macaron carousels so that it's structurally stable even when displayed for a few hours at room temperature.

Vanilla white chocolate buttercream
70g white chocolate
20g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Strawberry dark chocolate buttercream
60g dark chocolate chips
20g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
20g strawberry jam
1/2 tsp strawberry emulco/ paste

Steps:
1. Place butter and white/dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat at medium power for 20 seconds. Mix well. Heat at 10 seconds at medium power and stir again. Repeat as necessary until mixture is fully melted.

2. Set aside at cool room temperature 23-27℃ for an hour or until firm. Alternatively you may refrigerate for 10min or until firm.

3. Use a spatula and whip the chocolate mixture until light and fluffy. You may have to freeze/chill the dark chocolate mixture for a longer time before whipping it again.

4. Add salt, vanilla bean paste and strawberry paste (for dark chocolate buttercream), and mix well.

5. Gradually fold in the jam for the dark chocolate buttercream.

Vanilla white chocolate buttercream and dark chocolate buttercream with a dollop of strawberry jam about to be folded in 

I filled the macarons with a ring of vanilla white chocolate buttercream and the center with strawberry dark chocolate buttercream

I filled the cats the same way too!

With love,
Phay Shing