L’AMOUR MACARON GÂTEAU

For French meringue macaron shells:

❚ 135 g (1/4 cup + 3 tbsp) almond flour ( finely ground almonds)

❚ 195 g (1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp) icing sugar

❚ 100 g (about 3 large) egg whites, at room temperature

❚ 38 g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar

❚ 7 g (2 tsp) egg white powder (egg albumen) ❚ 1/4 tsp powder colour, pink ❚ 1 batch Vanilla Bean Buttercream (recipe follows)

❚ 1 pint (2 cups) fresh raspberries

❚ 1/2 batch Rose White Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows)

❚ 1/4 cup homemade or goodquality raspberry jam

❚ 1 ⁄ cup drained and 3 chopped canned lychees

❚ A few fresh raspberries, for garnish

Equipment: You will need a baking sheet and four piping bags, two fitted with medium round piping tips (#803 or #804).

To make the macaron shells you will need a template for piping the batter. Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of your baking sheet and trace 2 heart shapes onto it, each 7 by 7 inches. Place the template on the baking sheet and cover it with a second piece of parchment.

The shapes will show through for you to use as a guide when piping. You can save this template and reuse it next time you make this gâteau. To make macaron shells:

1. Sift the almond flour and icing sugar together into a bowl. If necessary, press the last of the mixture through the sifter with your hands. Discard any larger pieces that won’t go through. Set aside.

2. Place the egg whites in a stand mixer bowl. Sift the granulated sugar, egg white powder, and powder colour onto the egg whites.

3. Whip on high until a stiff meringue forms (4 to 4 1/2 minutes). Make sure to whip until it’s really stiff.

4. Pour the sifted almond flour mixture over the meringue and, using a spatula, gently incorporate until just combined. Transfer the batter to a shallow wide bowl.

5. Now proceed to the macaronage. With a plastic bowl scraper, smear the batter along the sides of the bowl and scrape it back into the centre. Repeat until the batter becomes shiny and reaches the consistency of very slow-flowing lava. How many times you need to do this is highly variable; it might be only a couple of passes or up to a half dozen.

6. Place a piping bag fitted with a tip inside a tall glass and fold the edges of the bag over the rim. Fill the bag with the macaron batter.

7. Hold the piping bag vertically with the tip 1/2 inch above the baking sheet. With even pressure, while holding your piping bag steady, pipe concentric hearts onto the lined baking sheet following the template that you have placed underneath, starting on the outside and working your way in.

8. Let the shells rest at room temperature until a skin forms on the surface. This should take 20 to 25 minutes. Test for readiness by touching the top of a shell with your finger. The batter should not feel sticky. While the shells are resting, preheat your oven to 350°F (180˚C), positioning the oven rack in the middle of the oven.

9. Bake the shells for 12 minutes. Briefly open the oven door to let out steam, rotate the baking sheet, and bake for another 8 minutes. Note: Oven times may vary. If the shells start to brown around the edges, immediately remove them from the oven.

10. Let the shells cool for 20 minutes before carefully peeling them off the parchment paper. At this stage, you can wrap the shells in plastic wrap or place them in a sealed, airtight container and freeze them for up to a

week before filling. Let thaw at room temperature for 20 minutes before assembling. To assemble the gâteau:

11. Fill one of the tipless piping bags with rose ganache and the other with raspberry jam. Cut a hole at the end of each bag, making sure the hole for the rose ganache bag is small enough to fit into the centre of a raspberry. Fill a piping bag fitted with a tip with vanilla buttercream.

12. Pipe rose ganache into the centre of each raspberry and arrange the raspberries, filled side down, in a heart shape along the outer edge of the bottom macaron shell. Add a ‘V’ shape of filled raspberries inside the heart.

13. Pipe a thin layer of vanilla buttercream between the rows of raspberries. Top with a thin layer of raspberry jam.

14. Spoon chopped lychees onto the raspberry jam and top with another thin layer of buttercream. The filling should now come up even with the tops of the raspberries.

15. Place the second macaron shell on top and press gently, taking care not to crack it.

16. Pipe a dot of rose ganache on top of the shell and garnish with fresh raspberries.

Storage: This gâteau will keep for up to three days in the refrigerator. Makes: 1 x 7-inch gâteau