Saturday 13 April 2013

Mastering Macarons: Wedding Edition

My neighbour got married.
This weekend.

And his angel of a sister has put aside her studies to construct the wedding cake, a tower of multi-coloured, multi-flavoured macarons capable of feeding 200 guests. It is a truly selfless act to which I have been witness and willing collaborator as these macarons have been tweaked and twisted while A is driven to the brink of frustration in a bid to ensure they are the very epitome of perfection. Each filling was perfection in taste, some  'requiring' more than the smallest of tests before the piping began, the cooks making the most of the delicious fillings before they would have to be shared with the stampede of wedding guests they guaranteed.

By the time I came on board close to 1000 shells sat carefully stacked in boxes in the freezer awaiting the preparation of fillings before the frustrating construction of each individual macaron. As a rainbow of colours spilled onto the kitchen counters A and I set to work solidifying each filling before pairing, filling and twisting the macarons together before they could be returned to the freezer for their journey down south.

The colours themselves were divine, but when combined with the array of fillings...
Red the colour of thick matt lipstick, softened by a butter cream flavoured with rose.
Oranges ranging from the soft warm tones of dawn to the vibrancy of a perfectly ripe orange. These were filled with a seriously delectable salted caramel that deemed itself too delicious to stay sandwiched between bright orange shells.
Yellow of lemons twisted together with a glob of delectable passionfruit curd.
Green contrasting between a brilliant chartreuse and a rich dark shade usually associated with moist wooded forests. These were filled with a rustic pistachio ganache.
The Blue of a blue hawaiian cocktail complete with a toasted coconut Malibu ganache and
a dusty Purple, a suitable accompaniment for the lavender butter cream within.



After the dramas of semi-solid filling, fillings dripping as they sat waiting for their moment in the light, fillings running out the door... we got it. It worked. Each one looked spectacular, the colours aligning with the bridal party. Each one sat perfectly still, waiting to be devoured. And each one tasted divine.


So to my darling friends, and family. While it looked spectacular and tasted even better, think long and hard before you dare ask.

I refuse to devote that much effort and that much pain without some serious bribery.

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