macarons

So it was summer for like 5 seconds. Over last weekend’s bank holiday there was actual sun and it was warm. I wasn’t aware that this country was capable of warm anymore so it was a pleasant surprise, and perfect timing too. I mentioned we went to a birthday picnic but after that we went to a BBQ. This BBQ was amazing for many reasons, but one being the Pimms that was served. It was stuffed full of fruit and having not had it in so so long, it tasted even better. Although this weekend we didn’t have a repeat forecast (It rained and I got drenched. Boo) my friend Fiona came to stay and we decided to make macarons and immediately I knew what flavour to make. Pimms has such a great flavour and it’s one of those drinks that doesn’t taste like you’re drinking any alcohol (Dangerous. In a good way.) and reminds me so much of summer and tennis and our garden. For these macarons I began by making the shells using this recipe and had a tough time getting the pimms colour; they ended up a bit pink but I now I know for next time. For the fiilling I made a buttercream, flavoured with neat Pimms and mixed in strawberries, cucumber and mint. When assembling them I added in a large piece of strawberry in the centre which I might not do next time as it made the macarons go softer the next day and ooze strawberry goo. But boy did they taste like Pimms, especially when they were still a little chilled from the fridge. These definitely distracted me from the lack of sunshine and made it feel like summer again for 5 seconds.

This might be one of my favourite things I’ve made to date. Nothing says birthday like rainbow and this birthday cake is for my cousin Eloise. She doesn’t really like cake (what?! yes.) but really liked my raspberry macarons so I decided to go on that. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look and made multiple scrawly drawings trying to plan and get it perfect. Because I feel a birthday cake should have at least a small amount of cake, I made a vanilla sponge to act as a pedestal for the macarons. I lined the outside of the cake in …

My sister has become pretty obsessed with my macarons. She even requested some for her company, Found‘s quarterly review. I still think it’s pretty amazing that my sister works for a company whose colour is purple. It’s her favourite. So deciding what colour the macarons had to be was easy, but I wasn’t sure what flavour to make them. Most purple macarons I’ve seen are …

Yesterday was ‘Macaron Day’. I was informed of this by my Sister who loved my last attempt at macarons. She recently bought me a macaron book which includes a section with savoury options. I decided to surprise her by making some with her favourite ingredient, sweet corn (I once even made her a sweet corn cake). Sweet corn and bacon is one of our family’s favourite combinations; we have it in …