Hello Kitty and Donutella in Hot-Air Balloon Macarons

Sometimes you don't know something can be done until you try it. This is one of those experimental bakes that turned out really well and I thank God for it 😊. Presenting my version of Hello Kitty with Donutella on a hot-air balloon trip over the rainbow, all made using macarons! 

Ok the marshmellow clouds and the balloon ropes aren't made of macarons 😂. 

Two things I experimented with using macaron batter 1) as a glue for macaron structures, and 2) creating a pastel striped pattern on hemispherical macaron shells. As I needed fairly good meringue stability over many hours, I used the swiss meringue method. 

Just to share some pictures and tips about the process... 

Piping the panels of the hot-air balloon basket and characters. You can see I had trouble with piping Donutella's ears 🤣

I decorated the characters with black edible marker and royal icing. 

The panels of the basket were glued together using the same dark pink macaron batter (left in piping bag for many hours). I dried the assembled baskets at 65°C in the oven for 20 min until dry to touch, and then ramped up the temperature to 110 °C to bake for another 15-20min. This drying/baking temperature and time profile is to create a membrane on the piped batter surface as soon as possible, as well as to set the structure by baking without it developing feet. 

Ta-dah! I was so happy it worked! Are the macaron shells super hard due to extended baking? Not at all! I did a taste test. 

I bit into the trial basket and was pleasantly surprised the texture wasn't compromised at all. This is probably due to the low temperature used to bake the joints. The macaron shells are nicely full too! 

I wasn't confident the striped hemispheres would turn out pretty because of the pastel colours involved. Hemispheres generally need to be baked at a higher temperature for a longer time, especially since I used the largest silicone mould I have at home (diameter about 6cm). I added white powder food colouring and eyeballed the oven thermometer throughout baking to prevent browning from happening. Piping the stripes on a curved surface was challenging too. I had to scrape off some of the excess batter that flowed off too much and pooled at the base of the hemisphere. 

Piped batter on hemispherical silicone mould. 

Freshly baked shells! 

I filled the macaron shells with whipped raspberry strawberry white chocolate ganache. I piped a thin wall of melted white chocolate with a little vegetable shortening to provide some stability and firmness to the structure. 

Recipe for mixed berry ganache

Ingredients:

90g white chocolate couverture (I used Callebaut) 

25g unsalted butter

1/8 tsp salt

40g homemade mixed berry compote*

1 tsp freeze-dried raspberry powder

1 tsp freeze-dried strawberry powder

* I pureed equal amounts by weight of raspberry (pips sieved out) and strawberry, and added 10% by weight of sugar, a pinch of salt and a tsp of lemon juice. Cooked and reduced over low heat until about 60% of original total weight of ingredients. If you find this too troublesome, you may replace with whipping cream and double the amount of freeze-dried fruit powder or to taste. The compote can be kept in the fridge for up to a month in a sterilised glass jar. 

Steps: 

1. Place white chocolate, butter and dalt in a heatproof bowl and melt over a freshly boiled pot of water without the bowl touching the hot water. Alternatively, you may use microwave oven to melt chocolate and butter but be careful not to overheat. Chill in fridge for 5-10 min or until scoopable consistency. If the chocolate mix becomes hard, just let it sit at room temperature for a while. 

2. In the mean time, mix the compote and freeze-dried fruit powders together in a small bowl. Set aside. 

3. When the white chocolate mixture is firmed up (but not hard), whip it with a spatula until light and fluffy, like buttercream.

4. Add berry mix unto the whipped white chocolate, 1 tbs at a time, mixing until well combined before adding more. 

5. Transfer into piping bag and fill the macarons. 

Filling the rainbow

I didn't fill the hemispheres with the ganache as it would be too heavy to "float". I packed the extra filling instead for the recipient to fill when she wants to consume. I filled the balloons with marshmellows instead. 

A closer look at the hot-air balloons! 

I always make extra macarons, especially for characters, due to the high chance of breakage when handling it. The recipient plated the extras so nicely I just have to share it 😊. 

The macaron creation at the party! 

Did this creation put a smile on your face as it did to the recipient? 

With love, 

Phay Shing 

Read More »

Bunny, Hot-Air Balloon and Hearts Chocolate Salted Caramel Macarons

During the circuit breaker period, celebrations tend to be a cosy and small affair so my projects are mainly involve small quantities. This is actually for 2 separate requests, with some plain pink hearts not in the picture.

For Heidi who loves hot-air balloons and bunnies! 

The design of the bunny is partly done with the help of my elder kid for a teacup macaron class in the future. I converted it to a full body version.

I used the Swiss meringue method to make the macaron shells.

Piped batter. The hot-air balloon was really tedious and tricky! I piped on some royal icing to improve the definition of the hot-air balloon after baking

You may refer to this post for the dark chocolate ganache recipe and this post for the salted caramel recipe.

I hope these bunnies, hot-air balloons and hearts brought some cheer during this gloomy time!

With love,
Phay Shing

Read More »

Hot Air Balloon Brown Sugar Cookies

Sometimes, simplicity is beautiful :).

This is actually an old post that didn't get posted earlier because I had other more pressing seasonal bakes to post first.

Here are some hot-air balloon brown sugar cookies made with Masarang Arenga forest sugar, a lower glycemic index brown sugar.

Preparing to fly away at a party!

I have used this type of sugar for another brown sugar cookie bake. The taste of the cookie made with this type of sugar has a stronger caramel flavour compared to ordinary brown sugar.

This type of sugar contains some vitamins too!

I made my own hot-air balloon template. To do so, you may refer to this post. Please refer to this post for the brown sugar cookie and royal icing recipes. Simply replace regular brown sugar with the Masarang Arenga forest sugar if you happen to have it.

Freshly baked cookies!

Partially iced brown sugar cookies

I have been asked how I get the lines so neat with the royal icing. Always use a toothpick to nudge the icing into areas that can't be reached by the piping bag/tip. Don't be shy to quickly wipe away any mistakes with a damp paper towel too ;).

Do give this cookie recipe a try and it won't disappoint you. My friend who tried it did it successfully and the recipients loved the taste of! My recipients always give rave reviews for the looks and taste too, and ask me to bake for them again!

With love,
Phay Shing

Read More »

Hot-air Balloon ‘World Map’ Chiffon Cake (Blue pea flower Vanilla - Pandan Chiffon)

My first thought when I got the request for a ‘World map’ cake was ‘wah.. I'm not sure if it's possible..’. Coupled with the ‘Hot-air balloon’, it was really really challenging! Thankfully, my friend was ok with fictitious islands, so here’s my humble attempt at a ‘World map’ Chiffon cake (with a hot-air balloon)! Blue pea flower Vanilla Chiffon Cake was used to make ‘Sea’ and Pandan Chiffon Cake was used to make ‘Land’. The gravity defying Hot-air balloon was also made from chiffon cake from a jumbo egg, so you can imagine how nerve wrecking it was to watch it being transported (chiffon cake is really soft, so the balloon could break easily or drop). It’s really by God’s grace that the chiffon cake was intact and also well-received!

This chiffon cake is actually rather similar to the ‘Moo moo’ Chiffon cake in construction, except that I made the patches more ‘longish’ like continents and have specks of small patches to make the islands.

Freshly unmoulded World Map Chiffon Cake!

 Recipe with picture tutorials is now in Deco Chiffon Cakes book, launched in Oct 2016.

The Hot air balloon is made from Vanilla Chiffon Cake baked in a jumbo egg. The boy’s face is made by piping charcoal and vanilla chiffon batter side by side in a cake pop mold. The basket was made by wrapping layer chiffon cake round into a basket. The construction is actually quite a bit of engineering, using bamboo sticks as supports for the hot air balloon, and a frame for the base support of the egg using an O-ring. My friend shared her boy loved the cake! =)

With lots of love,
Susanne

Read More »