Calling all chocolate lovers! Every macaron baker needs a go to chocolate shell recipe to stack on decadent flavors and fillings. These chocolate french macaron shells have been tried and tested to get as much possible cocoa flavor, without causing structural issues by adding TOO much cocoa to the batter. Read on for chocolate shell tips and tricks, cocoa recommendations, and a silky chocolate American buttercream to fill them with.
First up, the most important part of successful chocolate shells, is knowing basic macaron techniques in general. I would suggest reading through my Basic French Macarons blog post if you are new to making macarons, and would even recommend trying out that basic recipe and getting a feel for it without cocoa powder first before diving into to flavored shells. But hey, if you’re feeling adventurous and want to go straight to chocolate, I won’t stop you!
Next, let’s talk about what type of cocoa powder to use. Macaron batter can be very sensitive, and if the cocoa powder you use has a higher fat content than most, you may run into issues such as wrinkly shells, fragile shells, or splotchy tops.
Nestle Tollhouse Unsweetened (0.5g fat per tbsp) was the cocoa powder I used for this recipe and it worked super well. My very scientific reason for starting with Nestle was…it was what I had in my cupboard at the time. I’ve also heard that Hershey’s Unsweetened (also 0.5g fat per tbsp) has a great fat content suitable for macaron batter as well, and is easily accessible in grocery stores!
Based on my research around the macaron corner of the internet, 0.5 grams of fat per tablespoon is the sweet spot for macaron batter. Feel free to explore other brands, but keep in mind anything higher than the 0.5 can cause problems because too much fat can weaken the meringue part of your batter. If you really love a brand of cocoa that has a higher fat content, you may want to lessen the amount of cocoa used.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder Brands Plus Grams of Fat Per Tablespoon
Yes! BUT…you need to check the fat content just like you would with “Natural” Cocoa Powder. The biggest difference with Dutch Cocoa powder is that it’s been neutralized and isn’t as acidic as Natural Cocoa Powder, which can alter recipes that use leavening agents. However, macarons do not use any leavening agents that will be affected, so Dutch is interchangeable. Dutch is also usually darker colored, and has a darker chocolate flavor as well.
Dutch Cocoa Brands Plus Grams of Fat Per Tablespoon
If you’d like to learn more about the difference between Dutch Cocoa and Regular, King Arthur Baking has a great article that does a deep dive! I’ll link it below…
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2020/07/15/dutch-process-vs-natural-cocoa
As mentioned before, it’s important not to throw off the ingredient ratio of a macaron shell recipe. To balance out the grams of dry ingredients being added with the cocoa powder, subtract that same amount equally from your confectioner’s sugar almond flour blend. So for example, since I add 24 grams of cocoa powder in this recipe, I subtract 12 grams of confectioner’s sugar, and another 12 from the almond flour from my usual amounts.
How much cocoa powder do you need to flavor your shells? It depends on your recipe. I ran tests with my recipe (which produces about 70 shells usually) and initially tested with 20 grams of cocoa powder per batch, 30 grams per batch, and 40 grams. Here’s what I found.
40 grams
This amount produced a nice dark shell, but was fragile and soft even with baking an extra few minutes. The shells were difficult to remove from the mat and part of the bottoms stuck. The feet were also a bit ruffled!
30 grams
So close, but not quite. The shells still had a nice brown shade, good chocolate flavor, but were JUST a pinch too soft for me to feel good about. The tops would dent inward with gentle pressure, and were still a bit sticky in regards to removing them from the mat. The feet were a pinch ruffled with this amount as well.
20 grams
Success! The shells were strong and smooth, the feet were successful and not ruffled, the insides had plenty of fluff, and the chocolate flavor was there. The only bummer was the shade was not quite as dark as I personally prefer.
After running tests, I decided to try 24 grams of cocoa powder per batch to see if I could get away with just a pinch more than the successful 20 grams per batch test. It ended up working great after trying it out multiple times, so that was the winning number! I was super happy with the visual appearance of the shells, the structure, and the flavor. I still wish it was a deep brown, but I’d rather have the texture and structure be strong. If your preferred brand and amount of cocoa powder does not product the depth of brown you prefer, you can always add brown gel food coloring to deepen the shade.
Some recipes may not hold up as well with this amount of cocoa powder. If you’re starting from scratch, I recommend testing your recipe with 5 grams of cocoa per dozen individual shells produced, and going from there! Remember to subtract whatever gram amount you use from your dry ingredients to balance out the dry ingredients.
Sift the cocoa powder together with your almond flour and confectioner’s sugar, and whisk the three ingredients together well before folding into the meringue.
I’m sure this depends on the recipe, but I’ve noticed when I make chocolate shells, my batter behaves just a bit differently. The batter seems to be a bit thicker overall, and produces a few less shells.
The important thing with my recipe (and any for that matter) is to notice how the batter settles. My recipe tends to stay a little thicker than most (even without chocolate), so instead of looking for flowing ribbons of batter, I scrape all the batter to the bottom of the bowl, jiggle it several times, and then study the texture. If the batter has mostly settled back into itself with just a few minimal lines remaining (but not completely smooth and level), it’s ready.
Another note, I also added a pinch more sugar than I normally do to help strengthen the meringue and shells. Chocolate shells are notorious for being fragile and wrinkly, and I noticed the sugar seemed to produce stronger shells that could hold up to more cocoa powder.
Chocolate shells can be baked at the same temperature as regular macarons, but they may need an few extra minutes to ensure fully baked and crisp exteriors, and fluffy full interiors. I recommend increasing your bake time by 2-4 minutes. And hey! They’re already brown, so browning won’t be as noticeable, making it easier to get away with extra time in the oven.
While the shells are baking and cooling, whip up this 10 minute silky chocolate American buttercream. Whipping low and slow once the buttercream is finished can help work out air bubbles, along with mixing by hand at the end.
My favorite way to get all the air bubbles out of a buttercream are to make it in advance, chill completely in the fridge, and then rewhip it until smooth. This method creates a smooth, beautiful texture to work with and pipe.
Once shells have been filled, top with it’s partner shell and gently press together until the buttercream is almost to the edge.
Once macarons have been filled, allow them to mature in an airtight container in the fridge for 24 hours to develop the ideal texture and flavor. Or eat them now. I won’t judge!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Chocolate macarons can be a bit of an adjustment and can take some trial and error, but the flavor impact and options it opens up are worth the effort. Thanks for stopping by today!
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