Spider Web Macarons

Hello friends! Today we are making these super fun Spider Web Macarons, they are perfect for Halloween! If you are looking for Halloween macaron ideas, you came to the right place!

To make these Spider Web Macarons, I used the same batter to make the colors white and black.

Making different colors from the same batter is not hard to do, and can be very practical. It’s a very important thing to learn when making macarons because it can save you a lot of time when trying to fulfill orders that call for different color shells, and also when making designs that require more than once color such as these cool Halloween themed macarons.

When making different colors from the same batch, simply whip the meringue as you normally would. Then add the dry ingredients into the meringue, and stir just until the ingredients are incorporated.

As soon as you see no more dry ingredients, stop stirring.

This is very important, you want to mix as little as possible, because you don’t want to end up with an over mixed batter, and remember we still have to divide and color the batter, which will require more mixing.

Once you split the batter between the different bowls, keep one bowl covered while you work with the other.

To make the black batter, I used about 3/4 of the batch, and left the remaining 1/4 for the white batter to form the spider web.

I used black powder food coloring from The Sugar Art, and also black gel food coloring from Americolor. The black powder food coloring will allow you to achieve a deep color without adding so much gel, but you will still have to add a lot of it.

For more tips on how to make Black Macarons, check out this post.

And for the white batter I just used some white powder food coloring also by The Sugar Art.

Here are some tips on how to make the spider web pattern:

• Pipe only a few shells at a time, if you pipe a whole tray of black shells and then start doing the pattern on top, the shells might start drying and you won’t be able to achieve a smooth shell once you pipe the white portion and attempt to form the design.
• Tap the trays gently after few macarons, to help the batter smooth out and blend together.
• Don’t dig the cake scribe or the toothpick right into the macaron shell, you will simply swipe on the surface of the piped batter.
• Use a very small tip to make the white part, I used a Wilton #1.
• The pattern is formed from the center out, if you start dragging the batter from the edge of the shell to the center it will form a flower pattern instead of a web.
• Let the macarons dry for a long time, black macarons when not rested tend to crack or not develop any feet.

Make sure to watch the video on this page or on YouTube, to see exactly how to make the pattern, you will see how easy it actually is.

And about the eye ball macarons, I simply used a sugar decoration by Wilton cakes, and glued on top of black macarons using some melted white chocolate.

And for the filling, I chose a Chocolate Buttercream made with melted chocolate, and also black cocoa powder.

Black cocoa powder gives the frosting a bit of an Oreo taste, it’s quite delicious.

If you don’t have any black cocoa powder, that’s ok, you can use regular cocoa powder and add some black food coloring, preferably in powder form.

One of the questions I get the most anytime I make black macarons is if they stain the teeth when you eat them.

The answer is yes, they do. However, it does come off pretty easily if you rinse it with some water. And it’s even better if you don’t use any black food coloring in the frosting, that will minimize the staining a lot because the black cocoa powder tends to not leave stains.

Are you making anything fun for Halloween? What are your favorite Halloween designs?

Let me know down below, and tag me on Instagram if you make these Spider Web Macarons!

Thanks for reading!

Spider Web Macarons

Camila Hurst

Hello friends, today I am going to show you how to make these awesome spider web macarons. They are easy to make and perfect for Halloween! Let’s check it out!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Servings 20 macarons

Calories 60 kcal

Ingredients

  

Macaron Shells

• 100 grams egg whites
• 100 grams white granulated sugar
• 105 grams almond flour
• 105 grams powdered sugar
• Food coloring for the white batter I used white powder food coloring by the Sugar Art and for the black batter I used black powder by the Sugar Art and also black gel food coloring by Americolor

Black Frosting

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate 56 grams
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter 70 grams
• 1/3 cup black or regular cocoa powder 40 grams
• 2 cups powdered sugar 343 grams
• 2-4 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Black food coloring if not using black cocoa powder

Instructions

 

Macaron Shells

• Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a round tip, I use a 1/4” diameter tip, this bag will be used for the black batter. Also line another piping bag fitted with a Wilton #1 piping tip, one of the smallest round tips there are, this will be used with the white batter. Set aside.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
• I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it.
• 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 white powder to the bowl if using. If you’re not using egg white powder simply skip it.
• Whisk the sugar and egg white powder so it doesn’t clump up.
• Add the egg whites to the bowl and 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, 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 medium and whip for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. I like to finish whipping my meringue on speed 6 of the KitchenAid.
• To know if the meringue is done whipping , keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, and the meringue raising in the center of 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 curve at the top, but not bending down to the side.
• Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
• Fold the dry ingredients with the meringue just until you see no more dry ingredients in the meringue.
• As soon as you see no more dry ingredients in the meringue, stop stirring. Divide the batter between two different bowls. You will need more black batter than white, so have that in mind. You could probably do 1/4 of the batter white and the rest black, but I didn’t measure mine I just eyeballed it.
• Work with one bowl at a time, leaving the other bowl covered meanwhile.
• To the first batter add white powder food coloring and stir until the perfect consistency is achieved. The batter should be flowing slowly and effortlessly off the spatula, you should be able to pick up some batter with the spatula and draw several figure 8s with the batter that’s flowing, without having the batter break up. And even after the batter breaks up, it should still continue to flow off the spatula slowly.
• 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.
• 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.
• Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, it’s ready.
• Transfer the white batter to the piping bag fitted with the small round tip (wilton #1).
• Now let’s work with the other batter. Add a bit of black powder food coloring as well as gel food coloring to the batter. I am not sure how much I’ve added, I just kept adding until the color was deep enough.
• Be careful at this point not to over mix the batter, because often times people will continue to add color in order to obtain a more vibrant tone, and will end up over mixing the batter in the attempt to obtain the desired color.
• Fold the batter until the perfect consistency is achieved. Like I’ve mentioned before, the batter should be flowing off the spatula slowly and effortlessly, and should be able to form a few figures 8s with the batter that’s flowing off the spatula without having it break up, and even after it breaks up, it should still continue to flow off the spatula slowly and effortlessly.
• Transfer the black batter to the piping bag fitted with the number #12 piping tip (1/4” diameter).
• Place the piping bag containing the black batter 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.
• You just want to pipe a few macarons at a time, because you have to make the web effect before the black batter starts to dry.
• Then make a small circle with the white batter right in the center of the black piped batter. Then pipe a larger circle around it, and continue one or two more times until you can’t fit any more circles on the macaron surface. It should look something like a target.
• Then immediately grab a toothpick or a cake scribe and starting at the center, swipe gently with the scribe on the surface of the shell to drag the batter out to form the lines of the webs. Repeat this around the center a few times. Watch the video to see how this is done.
• Give the trays a few taps against the counter or against the palm of your hands after piping a few macarons, to help smooth out the batter. Also use a toothpick to pop any visible air bubbles or fix any pointy tips that might have formed in the process.
• Proceed to pipe a few more shells at a time, until you are done.
• Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. It takes me a long time to dry my black shells, probably close to 2 hours, even with the dehumidifier turned on, this time may be different for you. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
• Pre-heat the oven to 310ºF.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for 5 minutes, rotate the tray.
• 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.
• I also piped some black macarons without the white web design.
• I decorated some of those black macarons with an eye sugar decoration from Wilton cakes. Simply spread a bit of melted chocolate on the shell and place the decoration right on top to make it stick.

Black Chocolate Frosting

• Melt the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate by microwaving for 15 second intervals, and stirring in between until completely melted. Set aside to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium high for a couple of minutes.
• With the mixer off, add the melted and cooled down chocolate and mix to combine. Then add the cocoa powder, I am using a mixture of regular and black cocoa powder.
• You can use regular cocoa powder or black cocoa powder. If using black cocoa powder you can skip the food coloring, here I am adding a bit of black powder food coloring to make the frosting black. Also in this video I am making a double recipe than what is indicated on the ingredients list because I was filling a double batch of macarons.
• Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until dry ingredients are incorporated with the butter.
• Add milk as needed if the frosting is too dry or stiff.
• Raise the speed to medium-high, and beat from 30 -60 seconds, until smooth.
• Add the vanilla and mix.
• The frosting should be smooth, thick, not too stiff. Add more milk if the frosting is too stiff, and add more powdered sugar if the frosting is too runny and you went overboard with the milk.
• Always remember the a little bit of liquid here goes a long way, so you don’t want to be adding too much milk to the frosting.

To fill

• Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with the tip of choice. I am using the 6B. Then pipe on the bottom shell of the macarons.
• Top with another shell.
• Let the macarons sit in the fridge overnight before serving.

Storage

• Store the macarons in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Notes

Egg white powder: Egg white powder is made of only egg whites. They help with getting fuller shells, and specially when adding a lot of food coloring to the batter, because they make the shells dry faster. I recommend experimenting with it if you can find it. I use 4 grams for each 100 grams of egg whites. Egg white powder is not necessarily right for everybody, find out more about it here.

Food coloring: For the white batter I used white powder food coloring by the Sugar Art, and for the black batter I used black powder by the Sugar Art and also black gel food coloring by Americolor

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 after 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.

Keyword halloween, macarons