It’s December in less than 48 hours! How crazy is that? Get yourself ready for the quickly approaching festive season with these super cute and super chic macaron baubles! They’re perfect for your tree, nestled inside a sweet Christmas Eve box or added as stylishly edible gift tags on presents!
Oh la la! Just look at those little pretties! They’re available in boxes of 6 baubles for £10. You can opt for an even mix or go for all one flavour too. We’re also able to ship these nationwide (UK) for an added P&P cost of £10 which gets you speedy next day delivery (though this is unavailable for weekend or Monday deliveries). Read on for more about those cute little macarons! Or you can contact us to order via the form below!
This one (above) is the boozy one and will, most likely, be the popular option for all the grown-ups out there! It’s a Raspberry Pink Gin macaron. A lovely blush pink macaron filled with pink gin infused raspberry preserve and a gin & tonic raspberry buttercream. It’s then all dressed up as a festive Christmas pudding with an icing drip, pink berries and tiny fondant holly leaves. Ready for party season!
Pretty Christmas macaron baubles!
This gorgeous macaron is our popular Vanilla & White Chocolate Truffle flavour! It’s a white macaron filled with creamy Madagascan vanilla bean and Belgian white chocolate buttercream with a candy drizzle. We then finish with a flurry of white and pale pink snow sprinkles including sugar pearls, confetti and snowflakes!
Each pretty Christmas macaron bauble is finished with a ribbon, large bow and our famous glittering swing tag! They’re easy to slip on to your Christmas tree branch. You can also add them to hand-tied bows on presents too. We think they’d even look cute on a bauble covered wreath! Obviously, we added our macaron baubles to a super pink Christmas tree!
When Royal Albert contacted us to say our cakes and treats were a perfect fit for their gorgeous range of tableware designed by Miranda Kerr obviously we were beyond flattered! The range manages to be luxurious yet fun and definitely on-trend (those pink peonies are a fashion favourite). Definitely something we aim to be with every sweet we create! With this in mind and to really make the most of those last few days of summer we’ve put together one super pretty cake you can re-create too! Cherries are available in late summer, but they always remind us both of Autumn too (hello fruity cherry conserves and cinnamon cherry strudels!). Adding in a good Madagascan vanilla along with a creamy white Belgian chocolate helps give this cake a wonderfully comforting feeling! To whip up this cake at home keep reading!
Love the stylish Royal Albert and Miranda Kerr ‘Gratitude’ cake stand and ‘Friendship’ tea plates we used to help show off our Royal Albert inspired cake? Follow the links to shop them! They’re so vibrant and beautiful. We’re huge fans of the large peonies, gold accents and pretty colour palette.
Cherry and white chocolate cake recipe!
Ingredients needed for the cake: (this recipe makes approx. 3 x 8″ circle cakes)
Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 3 / 140C (fan) / 160C (non-fan) / 325F. Butter and line your cake pans.
Step 02:
Cream together the butter and sugar in a good stand-up mixer. Don’t over mix as this adds air into your batter which can lead to a sunken mess.
Step 03:
Add in your flour and roughly mix this into the creamed butter and sugar. Again don’t over mix! Mixing too much once your flour has been added overstimulates the gluten which can make a rather dense and chewy textured cake. Not nice.
Step 04:
Now add in your eggs and Madagascan vanilla. Mix until incorporated. Then pour evenly between three 8″ cake pans! Bake each layer/pan for approximately 30 mins. Test your cake with a clean knife or cake tester. If it comes out clean your cake is ready! If not and batter sticks to the blade or tester bake for another 15 minutes checking again at the halfway mark!
If you want to bake all three layers at once place in your oven and bake for approximately 40-50 minutes. Remember to test your cakes. If they’re not ready bake for another 10-15 minutes and test each 5-7 minutes into your extra baking time!
Step 05:
When ready remove from the oven. Quickly and carefully turn out onto a clean surface to cool. We use chocolatier marble slabs to help our cakes cool down a little quicker.
Ingredients needed for the vanilla and white chocolate buttercream:
500g softened butter
250g sifted icing sugar (powdered or confectioner’s sugar in the US)
Cream the butter in a stand mixer. Scrape the butter back down to the bottom of the bowl using your spatula. Try not to mix the butter too much or this can lead to pesky air bubbles and an odd textured buttercream! It’s so tempting to just leave the mixer going while you prep other things, but don’t!
Step 02:
Add in your sifted icing sugar (also known as powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar in the US) and mix until incorporated. Remember not to over mix though!
Step 03:
Now add in your Madagascan vanilla bean paste along with your 100g of melted white chocolate and a little pink food colour. Mix together.
Tip! When it comes to adding in colour do this a little at a time. It’s so much easier to add more colour if needed then remove any once mixed in!
Ingredients and materials needed to fill and decorate your cherry and white chocolate cake:
Macarons, candy, homemade marshmallows or meringue kisses to decorate
Cream puffs (if you’re feeling adventurous) - We have a Strawberry Milkshake cream puff recipe here. Just omit the strawberry essence from the whipped cream filling and add a tablespoon of blitzed cherry conserve into the double cream when whipping!
Your go-to ganache drip recipe - we added our signature gold sequin drip to our cherry and white chocolate cake. To simplify this cake you can leave the drip out!
Step 01:
When cool your layers are ready to work with! You never want to sandwich with warm cake as it will begin to melt your fillings. Sloppy, warm buttercream or ganache is not a good look. With a large serrated knife level each layer. You can definitely use a cake leveller for this tip if you like. We make so many cakes that we’ve developed a knack for levelling cakes by eye!
Step 02:
Now it’s time to fill and sandwich your layers! Add a ring of your pink vanilla and white chocolate buttercream leave a circle in the centre for your cherry conserve. When ready spoon in your fruity filling. Carefully add your layer on top and repeat this entire step for the next layer. Once all three cakes have been sandwiched you can add your pretty pink buttercream!
Step 03:
For an on-trend semi-naked look smooth or pipe your pink buttercream around the sides and top randomly. Scrape and remove any excess using a good icing scraper. Place in your fridge to chill.
Step 04:
Yay! Now for the fun part! If you’re braving a ganache drip then now it the time to add it! Drips work best on a nice chilled cake. The coldness of the cake helps the chocolate to set quicker giving you much more control over it. You don’t want every drip to pool at the bottom of your cake board or stand. We added a white chocolate drip to ours studded with edible sequins and painted gold. That’s an entire tutorial altogether though!
Step 05:
For cute pink dipped cherries add approx. 100g pink candy melts to a microwave safe bowl and melt down. We heated ours set at 2 minutes and checked every 30 seconds until done. Add in around half a tablespoon of your vegetable shortening until a smooth molten texture. Now dip in your cherries and leave to set on some parchment paper!
Step 06:
To decorate add in your pretty pink roses first. These are your focal decorative items and your largest so it helps to map out your design with these. Our roses have been washed, cut down, then inserted into posy picks before added to our cake.
Step 07:
Then you can add whatever other sweets and treats you have to your cake! We added pink candy melt dipped cherries, cherry cream puffs, and pretty macarons to ours!
Yep, it’s still unicorn month on our blog which means lots of rainbow and sparkle themed recipes and tutorials. This week we decided to a make something a little fancy for the unicorns who enjoy the finer things in life. Introducing our Strawberry Milkshake Cream Puffs recipe! Don’t worry though… it’s still fun and great for all ages.
Strawberry milkshake cream puffs recipe!
Makes approximately 18 cream puffs
Ingredients needed for the choux pastry:
100g diced butter
300ml water
150g plain flour
4 medium eggs lightly beaten
Ingredients needed for the strawberry cream filling:
284ml double cream (aka heavy cream or whipping cream)
To start this Strawberry Milkshake Cream Puffs recipe pre-heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/Gas mark 6. In a saucepan add your diced up butter along with the 300ml of water and heat until the butter has melted. Once melted turn the heat up so that the ingredients come to a boil.
Step 02:
As soon as the butter and water mix boils (you really don’t need to leave it too long) add in your plain flour and mix until a ball of somewhat shiny dough forms. Nothing should stick to the sides of your saucepan at this point.
Step 03:
This step takes a bit of energy and a lot of arm work! Slowly add in your beaten egg whilst mixing the dough vigorously. Your dough should get slightly stiffer and glossier as you add the eggs!
Note: You don’t want your eggs to cook separately and end up with lumps of scrambled egg in your pastry. To help stop this when you add and mix in the egg take your saucepan off the heat. Once the egg has incorporated into the mixture add the heat then repeat until all of the lightly beaten egg has been added in. Make sure that you are constantly and vigorously stirring too!
Step 04:
Lightly spritz your silpat / silicone baking mat with a little bit of water (an unused spray bottle really helps). You could just flick water on using your fingers or a clean pastry brush too.
Step 05:
Scoop the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a large plain round tip and pipe equal sized balls of dough onto your baking trays.
Step 06:
Now place in your pre-heated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes!
How do you know your cream puffs are ready? Well, you’re going to have to remove one from the oven and slice it open. They tend to weigh or feel a lot heavier than they look. The inside of your eclair should also feature a lovely hollow middle and should feel a little dried out – perfect for fillings!
Step 07:
Create your pink strawberry cream filling by adding your double (heavy or whipping) cream to the bowl of a stand-up mixer. Add in the vanilla bean paste and strawberry essence too! We also included a drop of pink food colouring before whipping as this helps minimise the risk of over whipping the cream.
Note: If you do over whip your cream and end up with a clumpy looking filling it’s easy to fix! Yay! Just add a tablespoon or two of unwhipped double cream (though you can also use full fat milk) and whisk for a few seconds before checking.
Step 08:
To fill your cream puffs add the whipped cream to a piping bag fitted with a bismark / filling piping tip (we used a 230 by Wilton). Insert the tip into the base and slowly pipe your strawberry whipped cream into the choux pastry puff! You should see the level base of the puff begin to fill a little. Remove the tip and bag and you should see a little cream poking out!
Step 09:
To coat melt some Belgian white chocolate and add in your food colouring. Remember that not all food colours can work with chocolate. This is the brand and colour we used, which worked really well with our melted down white chocolate. Some brands can separate, go a murky colour or even seize up. If you’re unsure of how your colour will work you can keep your chocolate coating plain and instead add instant colour with lots of sprinkles!
Step 10:
Take each cream puff and dip into the chocolate. Tap each whilst upside-down to help any excess chocolate from dripping down the sides. Leave to the side to set! If you want to add sprinkles, dried pieces of strawberry etc then you should add these whilst the chocolate coating is still melted. To add splattered effects wait until set!
Now you can enjoy your (grown-up unicorn inspired of course) Strawberry Milkshake Cream Puffs! We pilled ours into our new gold rimmed champagne coupes / saucers from Sainsbury’s! Why not try these cream puffs teamed with strawberry gelato, extract whipped cream and fresh berries.
We finished ours with a liberal splattering of edible gold paint for a touch of luxe, but you can party up yours with sprinkles! Try freeze dried chopped strawberries or white chocolate sprinkles for a little extra flavour. Or for an afternoon tea or a bridal shower get-together you can even add edible petals and flowers to decorate.
