How To Make Perfect Macarons from 5-star Pastry Chefs

How To Make Perfect Macarons from 5-star Pastry Chefs

Ah, the perfect macarons have kept many a baker up at night – and all of you, too judging by the amount of WhatsApps, emails and DM’s I get with a ‘My macarons are cracked/flat/wonky/don’t have feet, what did I do wrong?’.

perfect macarons

When I was in Mauritius a few weeks ago at the Festival Culinaire Bernard Loiseau at the Constance Belle Mare Plage Hotel I was so blown away by the incredible desserts and pastries I ate every day (tough life) – each petit four, buffet dessert and macaron was so expertly crafted by the pastry chefs at the hotel that I simply had to pick their brains on this elusive cookie. While I have my tips and tricks for the perfect macarons, I don’t 1. make macarons nearly as often as pastry chefs do (which is daily) and 2. make them in massive quantities. So who better to ask?  What’s that? You thought I was lying on a beach all day? Nope, I was working – don’t say I never do anything for you! 😉

So what are the most important tips for nailing the perfect macarons? Interestingly enough, none of the 5 pastry chefs I grilled, had the same answer! We know that the perfect macarons need to have the characteristic ‘foot’ or ruffle, with a smooth glossy top, and a chewy texture. But getting those three things is easier said than done!

Rajeshwar Rugoobur from Constance Prince Maurice was the winner of the Nespresso Café Gourmand contest (his petit four plate is pictured above). Each pastry chef had to create a macaron inspired by Nespresso and his coffee macaron won the approval of Pierre Herme himself, who was one of the judges. Guys, Rajeshwar told me he only started making macarons 2 months ago! Shortly after winning he told me the secret to perfect macarons is to “Try, try and try again. Macarons take lots of practice. And if you don’t get them right, remember that sometimes even for a pastry chef they don’t turn out perfectly every time”. There’s hope for us after all!

Latika Ramtahul’s coffee creme brulee macaron caught my eye (pictured above). Being mentored by Constance Belle Mare Plage’s Executive Pastry Chef, Nicolas Durousseau I knew she’d have one or two tricks up her sleeve. “Perfect macarons are very difficult to make,” she told me the day before the competition. “The macaronage (macaron mixture) must be a good consistency. Test it by piping a little onto the baking tray, it must flow into a nice glossy round. Don’t overmix it otherwise it becomes too liquid.”

Grace Lucas, pastry chef at the beautiful Constance Ephelia Hotel in Seychelles swears by mixing in the same direction. “If you go right, you have to go right. Mix very slowly and always in the same direction.” Amazing!

Last year’s pastry competition winner Stéphane Labastide, who heads up the pastry kitchen at Constance Prince Maurice had equally ground-breaking tips for perfect macarons. “I sift the almond flour but I keep the larger pieces of almonds aside and then add them back to the macaron mixture just before piping. This gives the macarons a lovely texture.” Mind = blown. Stéphane swears by the Italian meringue method (boiling a sugar syrup and adding that to the meringue) but unlike a lot of recipes which use the meringue when warm, he waits for his meringue to cool. “I add 1/4 of the cold meringue into the almonds and mix that very slowly, then add the remaining 1/2, still mixing slowly. This prevents you from over-mixing. The last 1/4 of meringue, you can adjust the mixing speed fast/slow to achieve the perfect texture.” Clever, very clever!

Iven Chitray, who won the Constance Pastry Competition Pierre Hermé – Valrhona Trophy this year and works with Stéphane also gave me a few pearls of wisdom. I interviewed him just after he was announced the winner and (rightly so) he was simply beaming!  “You have to serve macarons a day after you’ve made them,” he told me, “that’s the secret to getting the perfect texture”. Then he dropped some serious macaron philosophy that really got me thinking.  “Flavour is also so important”, he said. “You can make beautiful perfect macarons but if you don’t have flavour, it’s nothing.” So true. I’d much rather eat less-than-perfect macarons that taste good than perfect macarons, that taste average.

If you want to taste the creations of these talented pastry chefs, you can simply book a stay at the Constance Belle Mare Plage Hotel during the Festival Culinaire Bernard Loiseau which happens next year from the 16th – 24 March 2019.

The Sweet Life Of A Pastry Chef & Opera Cake Recipe

The Sweet Life Of A Pastry Chef & Opera Cake Recipe

The hero of petit fours, the champion of chocolate, the conqueror of macarons and the instigator of my ever expanding waistline… The Pastry Chef’s job is one we all dream of having! Whipping up decadent desserts all day long? Oh yes, that sounds like the perfect job. But what does it really involve? After my recent trip to Mauritius where I ate 40 desserts in one day (tough life, eh?), I simply had to pick the brain of the mastermind behind all the magnificent bakes. Nicolas Durousseau is not just any pastry chef, he’s the Executive Pastry Chef at the Constance Belle Mare Plage Hotel home to 5 restaurants. Jip, that means 5 different dessert menus, bread and pastries baked daily for the 1000 guests that stay at the resort and a never-ending amount of creativity!

Nicolas’ story began long before he could wield a palette knife; his love of food runs fluidly in his family but began with his grandfather working in famous Parisian pastry shops well into the sixties. He also remembers his grandmother preparing Nice clafoutis with red cherries in the summer along with beautiful egg custard cream with deep-fried beignets – with memories that sweet, no wonder he chose to be a pastry chef! Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Pierre Gagnaire, Le Negresco… Nicolas has worked with some of the finest chefs in the world, and while he spends his days tempting the hotel’s guests with decadent creations, I wondered what desserts does he enjoy? So I asked him the question that has always haunted me; If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be? His answer; a simple Flan Parisien (which to you and I, is a French Custard Tart similar to our milk tart minus the cinnamon). Ah yes, a man after my own heart!

After tasting so many of Nicolas’ wonderful creations, I was struck by his incredible ability to merge flavours effortlessly, but with so many wonderful combinations to choose from, what is his favourite?  “We received a sample from a world-renowned French chocolate maker,  Valhrona, it is a blond chocolate couverture made with muscovado sugar from Mauritius. I simply made an emulsion with the ganache by adding some red chilli, a fresh fruit caramelized compote made of mango, pineapple and banana with a thin layer of yuzu jelly and lime zest. ”  *taste buds explode, brain explodes, tummy grumbles*

Okay, okay but how can we be like him? How do we channel our inner pastry chef at home? “Perseverance” he says, “Set yourself a goal and then keep practicing until you achieve it”. How about taking his advice and tackling one of Nicolas’ recipes? Like this Opera slice which was my favourite of all his desserts! It consists of layers of sponge, coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache. 

OPERA CAKE SLICE

by Nicholas Durousseau

Serves 8

Sponge

25g butter

125g ground almonds

145g castor sugar

4  whole eggs

3 egg whites

Coffee Syrup

110ml water

100g sugar

2 tsp instant coffee powder

Coffee Buttercream

25ml water

90g sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp instant coffee

1/2 vanilla pod, deseeded

170g butter, cubed

Chocolate Ganache

20g butter

80g 70% dark chocolate

40ml milk

10ml cream

To make the sponge, preheat the oven to 210 degrees Celcius. Melt the butter in a pan and allow to cool. Combine the ground almonds in a separate bowl along with half the sugar and the whole eggs. Mix in the cooled butter. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks then gradually add the sugar and whip until stiff peaks.  Gently fold into the almond mixture in 3 batches. Take a large sheet of baking paper and use a ruler to outline a 30cm by 20cm rectangle then flip the baking paper over. Place the baking paper on a large baking sheet and spray generously with cooking spray. Gently spread the mixture out about 5mm thick on the sheet of baking paper (keeping within the lines of the rectangle) and bake for 10 minutes or until slightly golden in colour. Make the syrup by combining all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bringing it to the boil for 1 minute. Take off the heat and cool. Set aside. For the buttercream, make the syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan over a medium-heat until the syrup reaches 118 degrees Celcius on a thermometer. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites together on a low speed until soft peaks form. Increase the speed to high and pour the hot syrup in a steady stream. Sprinkle in the coffee powder along with the vanilla seeds and drop the butter in, cube-by-cube, until all of it has been fully incorporated. To make the chocolate ganache, roughly chop the chocolate into medium-sized pieces. Bring the milk and cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate, allow to sit for 2 minutes then stir to combine. Mix the butter in and allow to cool.

To assemble: Slice the sponge into three equal parts, these will make up the layers of the opera. Dab the coffee syrup gently onto the sponge slices using a pastry brush. Evenly spread half of the coffee butter cream on top the first layer of sponge then add the second layer and spread half the ganache over. Add the final layer of sponge and spread the rest of the buttercream evenly then spread the rest of the ganache over the buttercream. Allow to set before trimming the edges neatly. Once set, slice the opera into 10cm by 3cm rectangles.