Saturday, February 12, 2011

Black forest macarons

I had extra egg whites and just a little smidgen of cream leftover from a 1L bottle in the fridge. I hate waste. So I put my brain to good use, and the first thing that came to mind was - ding ding ding, macarons. But what flavour macarons should I make? Tough choice. I had a whole list of potential flavours I wanted to try out. Somehow, I have no idea how, black forest came into mind. I don't really fancy anything black forest-y and it wasn't even on my list of flavours to make! Yet, we had just gone to the wholesale vegetables and fruits place recently and got ourselves lots of fresh fruits - a big box of peaches (20 of 'em!), 4 punnets of strawberries and a 2kg bag of huge-ass cherries. Ah. Cherries. Succulent juicy red cherries that dribble juice down your chin when you bite into the  huge red orbs. Black forest macarons it shall be then.

Black forest macarons
Cherry jam compote


I attempted a David Lebovitz recipe for cherry jam, but I screwed it up. I overcooked the jam and when I realised it, whoops, it was way too late and thus, it was a thick caramel-like consistency. I was panicking cos I didn't want to waste the cherries, so I ended up adding more hot water to it and thus, I think it became sort of like a cherry compote. :/ 

First - pipe the white chocolate ganache; second - put a dollop of cherry compote; third - throw in some Valrhona chocolate pearls

I was debating whether I should sandwich the macarons with whipped cream cos that's how most black forest cakes is filled with. But I don't trust whipped cream cos 1) I can easily overwhip the cream, 2) I was afraid that the cream might "weep" after a few days in the fridge. So, I decided to use a white chocolate ganache instead.

Chocolate shells; Filling the macarons


The black forest macarons turned out pretty okay I think. Cherry and chocolate is great together. Perhaps I should have used whipped cream cos the white chocolate ganache was a little too sweet for my liking. But since I'm slowly (but surely) becoming a macaron addict convert, I think I'm contented with macarons in just about any flavours. :)

7 comments:

  1. haha Guess what... I made choco buttons the other day... we must be thinking the same thing... extra eggs, a bit of almond flour... ta da... I've never tasted black forest cake before.... I wanted to ask... do you short cut sometimes when making your macaron's...? Not freezing the whites or letting them age? I do, and I get a mix result...

    Looks divine!!!

    happy V-day to you. I'm sorry I've missed so many of your posts, I was in the middle of changing domains, and redesigning the site (which is still an ongoing process), and my mum has not been feeling well recently, when you add that with work.... I wanted to stop by and give you the new address, hope you'll bookmark it and come visit sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  2. xiaolu: i can see tt! ive seen your black forest cupcakes...;)
    janine: thanks, hmmm, the place i went was the pasir panjang wholesale fruits/veg but then u gotta buy them in bulk cos they only sell in bulk. so eg, strawberries are sold in like one carton (4 punnets?).
    shihbakes: :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. gosh your photography (and macarons) is absolutely droolworthy!

    Do you mind telling me where was this wholesale vegetables and fruits place you went to? I've been spending tons of money on fresh strawberries and if this wholesale place sells them for cheaper, it'd be great :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. One of my favorite flavor combinations...so delicious and a great inspiration for macarons!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a slight macaron obsession, and i LOVE your blog :) great photos! Encourages me to get baking again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. thanks! hope you get your baking mojo on again!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...