Learn how to create this multi dimensional macaron bouquet using the no macaronage method! Keep these macaron textures in mind for your Mother’s day baking or your spring macarons.
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If you’re new to making macarons, I recommend checking out my Basic French Macarons tutorial first to get a framework of the overall process. The most important difference with regular macarons and this textured set is the amount of macaronage (folding the dry ingredients into the meringue).
With regular macarons, the batter is folded until it flows off the spatula or mostly settles back down into itself. With the no macaronage method, you ONLY fold until your dry ingredients are BARELY incorporated. This stiff batter is what allows your piped macarons to hold their shape when piped as opposed to smoothing out. My 3D Tulip Macaron Tutorial has a few photo examples of how stiff your batter should be if you’d like a visual! It’s also important to note that you should NOT tap your trays after piping.
For this bouquet, I split my batch into four different colors. This gets a bit tricky with the no macaronage technique because you have to split your ingredients before you do any folding. To split my batch, I thoroughly whisked my dry ingredients together, and then divided it equally (and when I say equally, I mean down to the gram) between four bowls.
To divide the meringue, I weigh my mixing bowl empty and jot that number down, and then weigh it again AFTER the meringue is done. Next, I subtract the empty bowl weight from the full bowl weight to figure out the weight of my finished meringue, and then divide that amount equally between the four bowls as well.
From here you can move on to coloring your batter! I prepped 3 of my piping bags with a coupler so I could experiment with different piping tips, and with one bag I placed in a Wilton 8B tip.
The color mixing in this color palette ended up being fairly simple! If you’d like to recreate it, add a drop or two of brown to your meringue before you divide it to start. Brown mutes the colors down a bit which I enjoy. With the no macaronage method, you’ll want to add all of your color at the beginning before you mix, because adding it later in the folding process will either leave the color streaky or you’ll over mix it trying to incorporate it. I’ll include the color formulas I used below. Keep in mind each color was only 1/4 of a batch.
- Off White: No additional color
- Avocado Green: 2 drops Americolor Leaf Green, 1-2 Drops Wilton Brown, 1 drop Lemon Yellow
- Soft Pink: 1/2 Drop Lemon Yellow, 1 Drop Americolor Deep Pink
- Peach: 2 Drops Lemon Yellow, 2 Drops Americolor Deep Pink
Let’s start off with the Soft Pink Meringue Kiss shaped macarons! This texture was a lot of fun to pipe and created such a cute texture. Use the Wilton 8B piping tip to create this shape.
The off white design uses a very similar technique but instead of the 8B, the piping tip used was a Wilton 32. Being smaller, it created a slightly more squiggly look.
Next, let’s touch on the greenery. I don’t have a video for this one because to be honest I was kind of winging it! I used a small rose tip for the round leaves, the grass shape, and the longer leaves, and for the dots with white sprinkles I used a small/medium round tip.
Last, let’s finish it off with my favorite shape from the bunch, the piping technique for the peach roses! I keep trying to go for a peony look but think I need to get a larger more curved tip to really pull it off. So for today, we’ll call it what it looks like and say it’s a basic rose shape. Use a round tip to pipe the initial dollop, and then a Wilton 61 tip to pipe the petals. Start with 3 around the center, and then work your way out. I found it helpful to pipe one angle of petals all the way down my tray, and then spin my tray and repeat. That way you’re not constantly spinning your tray as you work your way around one flower at a time.
When it comes to resting, I would recommend increasing your time a bit more than usual. All of the cracks and crevices in the textures take a bit longer to form the skin and prevent cracking in the oven. Speaking of baking, bake your macarons at your normal temperature for your usual length of time. Or you can try my recipe down below! You may need to add an extra minute or two.
Once macarons are cool, assemble them with your favorite filling! Using the textured mac on both sides does make them quite tall, so if you want a more regular size macaron you’ll have to fully macaronage half of each color of batter to pipe normal macaron shells to pair with the textured ones.
Allow macarons to mature in an airtight container in the fridge for 24 hours to develop their ideal texture and flavor. Enjoy!
3D Macron Spring Bouquet
Ingredients
- 130 grams Egg Whites (Approximately 4 Large Eggs)
- 120 grams Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 200 grams Almond Flour
- 200 grams Confectioner’s Sugar
- 1 Pinch of Salt (Optional)
- Americolor Leaf Green Gel Food Coloring
- Americolor Deep Pink Gel Food Coloring
- Wilton Brown Gel Food Coloring
- Americolor Lemon Yellow Gel Food Coloring
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets with silicone mats.
- Prep 3 medium piping bags with couplers, and one medium piping bag with a Wilton 8B piping tip. Pinch off the piping tip ends with a clip, and place piping bags in a bag holder or cup with the large end of the bag held open so it’s ready to load your batter into.
- Weigh your empty mixing bowl in grams and jot the number down somewhere.
- Place egg whites, granulated sugar, and cream of tartar into your mixing bowl, and begin beating with a whisk attachment using either a handheld mixer or a stand mixer for 2 minutes on a medium low speed (Kitchen Aid Speed 4).
- Turn up the mixer to a medium speed (Kitchen Aid Speed 6) and beat for an additional 2 minutes.
- While meringue is mixing, split sifted almond flour and powdered sugar equally between four separate bowls. Make sure each bowl has been thoroughly mixed with a whisk, and set aside.
- Turn mixer up to medium high speed (Kitchen Aid Speed 8) and beat for 3 more minutes, or until peaks are very stiff and the meringue clumps up in a ball in the center of the whisk. Test stiffness by removing whisk and pointing it upward. Once the peaks can hold their shape flipped upright, your meringue is ready.
- Add the equivalent of two drops of Wilton Brown Gel Food Coloring to your meringue and run your mixer on high for several more seconds to incorporate.
- Weigh the bowl WITH the meringue in grams, and then subtract the original empty bowl weight to find the weight of the meringue. Once you have your meringue weight, divide it by four.
- Using a scale to measure, add exactly 1/4 of your meringue to each of your bowls with dry ingredients.
- Add no additional color to your first bowl, and fold JUST until your batter has no dry ingredients remaining. Do NOT continue folding as you would with regular macarons. Your batter should be stiff, but not have any dry ingredient streaks. Load off white batter into one of the bags with a coupler and use a rubber and to tie off .
- To your second bowl, add 2 drops of Americolor Leaf Green, 1-2 Drops Wilton Brown, and 1 drop Lemon Yellow and fold just until dry ingredients are barely incorporated. Load into a piping bag with a coupler and use a rubberband to tie off the opening.
- To your third bowl, add 1 Drop of Americolor Deep Pink and 1/2 drop of Lemon Yellow and fold just until dry ingredients are barely incorporated. Load into the piping bag with the Wilton 8B tip and use a rubberband to tie off the opening.
- To your fourth bowl, add 2 Drops of Americolor Deep Pink and 2 drops of Lemon Yellow and fold just until dry ingredients are barely incorporated. Load into the last piping bag with a coupler, and use a rubberband to tie off the opening.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: Using two textured shells to assemble each macaron will make them much taller than usual. If you’d like to have one shell in each pair be a regular circle macaron, you’ll need to reserve half of each color of batter to fully macaronage and pipe. See Basic French Macaron post for details on how to know when you’re done macaronaging.
- Fit the off white batter piping bag with a Wilton 32 tip, and pipe macarons on to your silicone mat holding your bag at a 90 degree angle.
- Repeat step 15 with the soft pink batter and the 8B tip.
- For the peach colored batter, pipe a small dollop of batter using a round tip, and then pipe petals with a Wilton 61 tip as shown in the video above keeping the skinny end of the tip facing up.
- Pipe greenery macarons however your heart tells you. I used a variety of tips including a small rose tip and a round tip, and experimented with different shapes.
- Begin preheating oven to 295 degrees.
- Rest your macarons with a fan blowing on them until the outer layer is completely dry in every crevice. Rotate trays every 5 minutes or so to ensure even air flow to each side.
- Bake one tray on the middle rack for 18 minutes.
- Rotate tray and bake for an additional 2 minutes. Test doneness by gently tapping on the side of your shells. If it wiggles, bake for another minute. Repeat until shells are no longer wiggly.
- Once macarons are fully baked and set, remove from oven to cool completely. Repeat with second tray.
- Fill macarons with your choice of filling and mature in the fridge in an airtight container for 24 hours before eating for optimal texture.
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