Knight and Graduating Dragon Macaron Carousel

I have made many designs and themes of character macarons since 2015 but I have never made knight, dragon and castle themed ones before. So I was really excited to make one, in carousel form too! 

This is graduation themed as well so someone has to wear the mortarboard. Of course it has to be the dragon! 

The castle macarons were made as a backdrop so they are not part of the carousel so I took photos of them as loose pieces. 

I used the Swiss meringue method for making the macarons. The bake was split into 2 separate days due to the many colours and rounds of baking involved. 

Just to share some photos of the process... 

Dragon piped macaron batter. I piped some plain rounds to bake for testing of colours for icing, edible marker and paint post-baking. 

Castle piped batter. Everyone says this looks like a dress if you turn it upside down😂. 

Knight piped batter. 

Piped batter for mortarboard pieces. I put my thumb there to show how tiny they are! 

Assembled mortarboard with royal icing and sour candy strip for the tassle. The regular sized version of this can be found in my Macaron Basics book. 

Some of the freshly baked pieces of the carousel frame. This is the first time I made a yellow frame! 

Undecorated as-baked macaron shells for the dragon, knight and castle. 

Decorated version of the dragon (minus the mortarboard), knight and castle. See what a big difference adding the details make! 

The macarons are filled with mango white chocolate buttercream and dark chocolate ganache. Crunchy chocolate balls are added for the large macaron base. 

I usually make my mango ganache with a combination of homemade mango compote and freeze-dried mango powder for a strong mango flavour. But as a carousel filling, I needed something really firm so no compote was used. My mango white chocolate buttercream is an adaptation from my usual mango ganache. 

Mango white chocolate buttercream (firm and tart filling!) 

Ingredients :

140g White chocolate (finely chopped or use chips) 

42g Unsalted butter 

A pinch of salt

28g Freeze-dried mango powder

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

Note: feel free to adjust the amount of mango powder and white chocolate according to taste and climate. 

Steps:

1. Place everything in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt the butter and chocolate in bursts of 10 seconds on medium-low power. Mix well between heating cycles. 

2. Set aside to let it firm up in aircon room for half an hour or in the fridge for a few minutes until toothpaste consistemcy. Whip it up to lighten the texture. Transfer into piping bag for use. 

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the base as I think it is beautiful too! 

The filling was rather soft when I was assembling so I decided to share my method of assembling such that there is less risk of a carousel collapse. It's Lego to the rescue! You may use other things like retort stand or anything with adjustable height too but Lego is just so handy for me. I shared this little tutorial on how to use Lego as temporary supports during carousel assembly on Instagram. 

The wooden skewers help to take some of the weight of the heavy roof. 

To remove the skewers and Lego supports, carefully slide the paper towels under the supports away first. This will create some give between the roof and skewers so that it is easier to remove the skewers. 

You may wish to assemble 3 (instead of 2 as shown here) of the 5 poles while the supports are still there if you want to be really sure there is no chance for collapse. Once the royal icing on the poles are set firm, the structure is very stable. 

Assembling this was a breeze with the temporary supports! 

With love, 

Phay Shing