Caramel Macaron Cake (2024)

Chocolate Macaron Shells

• 100 grams egg whites
• 100 grams white granulated sugar
• 105 grams almond flour
• 75 grams powdered sugar
• 14 grams cocoa powder

Salted Caramel Sauce

• 1/4 cup sugar 50 grams
• 2 tbsp heavy cream 30 grams
• 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter 21.26 grams
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or more to taste

Salted Caramel Buttercream

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature 85 grams
• 1/4 cup salted caramel sauce store bought or homemade included here
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar 187 grams – 250 grams

Chocolate Macaron Shells

• Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip, I use a 1/2” diameter tip. Set aside.

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Place the template with the large circles underneath it. My circles were 4.5”, and I was able to obtain 4 circles.

• Measure out all of the ingredients.

• Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder together. Set it aside.

• Place the sugar and the egg whites in a bowl, over a pan with barely simmering water. Whisk until the sugar is completely melted. It will take a couple of minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking the mixture over the water bath.

• Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook. Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup just whisk over the double boiler until the sugar has melted.

• Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.

• With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to high, or medium-high and whisk for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.

• Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should be stiff and shooting straight up, with possibly a slight bend at the top, but not bending down to the side.

• Pour the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder into the stiff meringue.

• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.

• Add the food coloring at this point, if using any.

• How to know when to stop folding the batter: It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.

• First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.

• There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds.

• Test again.

• Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, it’s ready.

• You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to over mix. It’s always best to under mix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.

• When you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly the batter is ready. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.

• Transfer the batter to the piping bag.

• Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of a circle template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe while keeping the bag in that vertical position. I piped each macaron about 3.5”, because they spread out considerably after piping, and then they reached a 4.5” diameter after I banged the tray against the counter.

• I had a tiny bit of batter left, enough for 5 tiny macarons. I piped the small macarons on another tray, and also let them dry and baked them afterwards.

• Once you’ve piped the circles, bang the tray against the counter a few times. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.

• Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells. Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out. I had to leave mine for almost 1 hour, time resting and drying will depend on how humid the day is, on the consistency of the batter, and other factors such as added food coloring, etc. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry. With the larger macarons it’s harder to tell, because they may form a thin dry surface but still not be dry enough to be baked. If your fingers are sinking in too much, or if the batter still feels quite wet and soft, even if it’s not sticking to your finger, let it rest a bit longer.

• Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.

• Bake one tray at a time.

• Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the tray.

• Then continue to bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.

• Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

  See Also

  Salted Caramel Macarons Recipe ~ Barley & SageSatisfy Your Sweet Tooth with Salted Caramel Macarons: A Step-by-Step RecipeSalted Caramel Buttercream MacaronsSalted Caramel Macaron

Salted Caramel Sauce

• Place the sugar in a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom, over medium heat.

• Stir constantly to help the sugar melt evenly.

• As soon as the sugar has melted entirely, and the last bit of sugar crystals have dissolved, quickly add the heavy cream. Be careful because it will bubble up.

• After a few seconds the bubbles should subside. Add the butter.

• Mix until the butter has melted. Add the salt. As soon as the last bit of butter has melted, immediately remove it from the heat. If you overcook this caramel sauce at any stage it will become too hard when it cools down.

• Pour into a glass jar. Let it cool completely.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

• Place the butter in the bowl of a mixer. Mix on medium high until creamy, for about 1 minute.

• Add the caramel sauce, and mix briefly to combine.

• With the mixer off, add 1 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar. Mix on low until incorporated.

• Raise the speed and cream for 1 minute until the buttercream is fluffy and smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl. If necessary add more powdered sugar, if the mixture is too runny.

• And if the buttercream is too stiff, add a teaspoon of water or milk to thin it out. Continue to adjust the consistency as needed, by adding more sugar or some liquid.

• Place the frosting in a piping bag.

To assemble

• Place one macaron shell on top of a cake stand or plate.

• Pipe some frosting around the edges of the macaron shell. Spoon some room temperature caramel sauce in the middle.

• Top with another shell. Repeat the filling process until you reach the last shell.

• If desired, pipe some frosting on top of the macaron cake, and then decorate the top. I used tiny macarons filled with the Salted Caramel Buttercream, also some caramel popcorn, and caramel crispearls.

• Let the macaron cake mature for 24 to 48 hours before serving.

Storage

• Store the macaron cake in the fridge, in an air tight container for up to 5 days, and in the freezer for about 1 month.

Food coloring: Make sure to use gel or powder food coloring if using any. If you are a beginner macaron baker, I recommend going easy on the food coloring, as it can alter your batter a lot, and it can take extra mixing time, specially if you continue to add the food coloring as you do the macaronage.

Scale: Please use a scale when measuring the ingredients for accuracy.

Macaron amount: it will vary greatly depending on how big you pipe the shells, and on how runny or thick the batter is.

Baking time/temperature:Baking time and temperature will vary according to your own oven. I recommend experimenting with your oven to find out the best time, temperature, position of the baking tray.

Oven thermometer: Make sure to have an oven thermometer to bake macarons. It’s one of the most important things about making macarons. Home ovens aren’t accurate at all at telling the temperature, and even a slight 5 degree difference can make or break your whole batch.

Tray rotation: Lots of bakers don’t have to rotate the trays 180 degrees in the oven every 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.

Crispearls: I used Callebaut Crispearls Salted Caramel to decorate the cake.

Caramel sauce: Feel free to use store-bought caramel sauce for both the filling and the frosting.