Carrot Cake Macarons

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 two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.

Measure out all of the ingredients.

Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set it aside.

Place a bowl over a pan with barely simmering water, add the sugar and egg whites to the bowl. Whisk the mixture until frothy and 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, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.

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 and almond flour into the stiff meringue.

Add the food coloring at this point, if using. I didn't add any.

Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.

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 or silicone mat, 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 each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.

Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. 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 a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.

Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.

Bake one tray at a time.

Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.

Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.

I bake each tray for about 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.

Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.

Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

You can also place a piece of foil or parchment paper halfway through baking to prevent the macarons from browning too much.

Pre-heat oven to 350ºF. Grease and line a 9×13” pan with parchment paper.

In a bowl, whisk the oil, egg, and sugar together. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the oil, egg and sugar, and whisk until smooth.

Add the shredded carrots and stir.

Pour the batter on the bottom of the pan. Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. If you touch the top of the cake with your finger, it should spring back when done baking.

Let it cool down completely.

You can store this cake at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the fridge for up to 4 days. And you can also freeze this cake for up to 2 months, well packaged. Thaw in the fridge before using.

Start by sifting the powdered sugar with the cinnamon. Set it aside.

Now, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer, for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla extract. Mix to combine.

With the mixer off, add powdered sugar/cinnamon mixture to the bowl.

Turn mixer on low to incorporate the powdered sugar with the cream cheese and butter.

Once you see no streaks of dry powdered sugar, beat mixture on medium high for one minute.

If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar as needed. And if the frosting is too stiff, add a teaspoon of water or milk to thin it out.

This frosting will store well in the fridge for up to 5 days, covered.

Make sure to always leave your frosting covered. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap, because otherwise, the surface will dry out and get hard.

Beat all ingredients together, except for the food coloring, for about 5 minutes on high speed.

Divide into two bowls. Color one bowl orange, and the other green. Remember to always keep the royal icing covered, or it will start to dry out pretty soon.

You might need to add more water to adjust the consistency, or maybe even more sifted powdered sugar, if your icing is too thin. The consistency should be flowing but not too liquidy.

Place the icing in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.

Place the template on this page on a baking sheet, and top with a parchment paper, or with silicone mat. Pipe the orange part of the carrot. After a few minutes, pipe the green leaves.

Let it dry for a few hours, maybe overnight until completely set.

I dipped some of the top shells into melted white chocolate, to stick the carrot on top. You can even use white royal icing in flooding consistency to do this. Then, while the white chocolate or icing is still wet, stick a Royal Icing Carrot on top of the shell. Or you can choose to decorate the shells by piping a dollop of cream cheese frosting on top of the shell, and then placing the carrot on top. I’ve done both ways as you can see on the post above.

If you choose to dip the shells in the white chocolate, or icing, make sure to let them dry before proceeding to assemble the macarons. Sticking the shells in the fridge for a few minutes will help speed this up.

Use a round cutter, that’s smaller than the diameter of your macaron to cut out circles of Carrot Cake.

Place each carrot cake circle on top of a bottom shell.

Place the Cream Cheese Frosting in a piping bag fitted with a medium round piping tip.

Pipe a ring of frosting around the edges of the macaron, which will also help stick the carrot cake on the shell. Then top with another shell.

Let the macarons mature in the fridge overnight before serving.

Store these macarons in the fridge for up to 5 days.

You can freeze these macarons for up to 2 months in an air tight container.