Confetti Cake Macarons

Another macaron recipe based off another dessert. Today we’re talking all about these confetti cake macarons! Like everyone’s favourite confetti/funfetti cake, these are topped and filled with lots of sprinkles. I mean, these are basically a birthday cake in macaron form and I’m not mad about it!

We’re using loose leaf tea again for our filling. You might remember that for my Earl Grey macarons, I used Pinky Up earl grey macaron loose leaf tea for peak flavour. Well, my friends, we’re using Pinky Up tea again this week. This time though, we’re using their confetti cake tea. It’s an herbal tea with flowers and tastes just like a slice of birthday cake.

Ok, let’s make some macarons!

First step: shells!

Here’s the thing, I decided not to colour the shells and I’m not really sure why. I love a colourful macaron shell. But I decided to skip the food colouring and just scattered some sprinkles on top. The problem with that, is that white macarons tend to come out of the oven, well…not white. They look more like macaron shells with a light suntan. Sort of a vanilla colour, if you like.

I don’t hate the way they look, but next time I’ll probably jazz them up with a little colour. Live and learn, you know? At least there are sprinkles!

The filling is the real star of the show though, so let’s talk about it!

The tea is loose leaf so to infuse the flavour into our filling, we’re adding it to half of the butter, melting it down, letting it sit for a few minutes, then straining it, getting rid of the tea and just leaving the flavour of it in the butter. We’re making a Swiss meringue buttercream so the butter needs to solidify a little and come to the same consistency as room temperature butter before we use it.

Egg whites and sugar are mixed together and heated to 160°F. Then we whip them up to cool the bowl down and form a nice, shiny meringue. Next, we slowly add both our tea-infused butter and our regular butter. Once that’s all nicely incorporated, we switch from the whip attachment to the paddle, and some vanilla extract, and beat it for a while.

Then, we fold in our sprinkles and we’re ready to go!

Pair up the shells, pipe the filling, sandwich them together and there you have it. The perfect confetti cake macarons!

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Confetti Cake Macarons

April 26, 2021

Servings: 40 macarons

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By: Bryony

Ingredients

Macaron Shells:
275g almond flour
250g powdered sugar
210g sugar
210g egg whites
Rainbow sprinkles
Gel food colouring (optional)
Filling:
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons loose confetti cake tea
3 large egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Directions

Step 1 Macaron Shells:
Step 2 To start, put the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and blend thoroughly. Sift into a bowl to ensure there are no lumps.
Step 3 In the bowl of a stand mixer (make sure it’s clean and dry), beat the egg whites until foamy. Slowly add the sugar, about 2 tbsp at a time, beating on a medium speed. Once the sugar has dissolved, increase speed to medium high and beat until a thick glossy meringue forms (if adding food colouring, add it now). The mixture should form stiff peaks and you should be able to tip the bowl over your head with none of the mixture coming out.
Step 4 With a large, flat rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of almond flour/powdered sugar mixture into egg whites until combined. Repeat until all of the almond mixture has been added. Fold to combine until you see no streaks of almond flour in the batter. The batter should be pretty fluid, a lot of people describe as a lava-like consistency. It should run smoothly off the spatula when you pull it out. This part comes with practice. Once you know the consistency, you’ll just be able to feel when it’s ready.
Step 5 Pipe the batter into circles onto parchment or silicone lined baking sheets. Bang the tray a few times on a table to remove air bubbles, top with sprinkles, and allow to sit for about 30 minutes before baking. To see if they’re ready for baking, touch your finger to them. If you get batter on your finger, they need to rest longer.
Step 6 While resting, preheat your oven to 300°F with a rack placed in the lower third of the oven. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 15-18 minutes (this depends on your oven, my old one was fine at 15 minutes, this one needs 17-18). The shells should cool completely before you remove them from the parchment/silicone.
Step 7 Filling:
Step 8 Place 3/4 cup of the butter in saucepan with the loose tea. Heat over medium heat until the butter melts, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the tea steep for 5 minutes. Strain the butter through a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl and refrigerate the butter until it reached the same consistency as softened butter, about 30 minutes. Small bits of tea may remain in the butter.
Step 9 Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Gently whisk until combined.
Step 10 Place mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water to create a double-boiler. Whisking intermittently, heat the egg mixture until it registers 160°F on a candy thermometer (or very hot to the touch). Carefully transfer the bowl back to the stand mixer.
Step 11 Using the whisk attachment, whip the egg mixture on high for 8 to 10 minutes until medium-stiff, glossy peaks and the outside of the mixing bowl returns to room temperature. Turn the mixer to medium-low and slowly add both the remaining plain butter and the Earl Grey tea butter (a couple tablespoons at a time).
Step 12 Stop the mixer and switch to the paddle attachment. Add vanilla and mix on medium-high until silky smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the sprinkles and gently fold in.
Step 13 Assembly:
Step 14 Pipe the confetti cake frosting onto one half of each macaron pair. Sandwich gently together. Macarons should be refrigerated until ready to eat. They are best if they have been out of the fridge for 30 minutes before eating. Refrigerating helps the flavours build and letting it sit out a bit before eating will mean you are enjoying it at the ideal macaron texture.