Vintage Tea Party Cupcakes: Mini-Macarons Tutorial

So we had a Vintage Tea Party themed cupcake class. And you can't have a tea party theme without a tea party. Which means pretty cake stands brimming with cake and cupcakes... and macarons. 

I dusted off my nerves and made some macarons again (you know I have a love-hate relationship with these confounding confections!) 

And, actually, they didn't turn out badly. Yay me! 😅

Let me introduce you to the easiest macarons you'll ever make, though.

They are oh-so-simple. And cute.
And not real.
But you can eat them....

Here's how to create this pretty platter of miniature sugar paste macarons...

(all made with a modelling chocolate fondant blend, with some tylose/CMC paste added to it.) 

Miniature Sugar Paste Macarons Tutorial:

For the platter: 

The edge of the platter is made in a mould, using grey modelling chocolate/ fondant/ tylose paste blend. 

Roll out your grey paste and cut out the base of the platter using a small circle/ scalloped cutter. 

Allow to dry. 

Dust with silver luster

Stick edging and base together with edible glue

Now for the macarons: 

Use a small circle cutter to cut out small rounds of paste - two in the same colour and slightly thicker than a third in a different colour.  

Use a cocktail stick or the sharp point of a frilling tool to gently create the foot of the macaron... it's just a bit of texturing along one edge of the paste. I hold the small disc of paste gently between thumb and index finger and score the edge, pushing it outwards slightly at the same time to create a tiny frill. 

Sandwich together with edible glue. 

Assemble on the platter 

When dry, place onto a disc of fondant on top of a pretty swirl of icing. 

So easy!
Have you tried making the real things yet? Let me know if you have, and how they turned out - I love hearing macaron success (and horror) stories!

You can see the macarons that I made for the tea party here . 

Happy baking!

xxM 

Christmas Cake Topper

Well, that wraps up Tea, Cake & Create Christmas classes for 2016. (Wish I could say the same for my Christmas gift wrapping!)
And I did get around to using some green - even if it was very much in the background!

Christmas Teddy (and his Southern hemisphere friend) are made out of a modelling chocolate / fondant blend , but because it has been so damp and misty around here lately, I also added some CMC paste to the mix for the bear.

The ratio I use is 1:1 modelling chocolate to fondant.
And if I'm adding CMC paste (the paste, not the powder), I'll add approximately 1/4 of the weight of the modelling choc/ fondant blend.
So, if the blend weighs 100g (50g modelling choc + 50g fondant), the CMC paste added to that would be 25g (a quarter of the 100g).

The cake dummy is covered with a strip of red modelling chocolate / fondant blend around the sides, and a free-hand cut apron of white fondant to create the dripping icing effect.

It's such an easy way to cover a cake with fondant, especially if you've not worked with fondant much - no complicated draping and smoothing required. 

Remember if it's a fruit cake that you're covering, you need to have a layer of marzipan between the cake and the fondant to prevent the fruit acids discolouring the fondant. 

Here's some tips from BBC Good Food on covering fruit cakes: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/techniques/how-ice-cake

And here's the fruit cake recipe I like to use for Christmas cakes:
http://teacakeandcreate.blogspot.co.za/2012/12/christmas-fruit-cake.html

Happy baking!

xxM