salted caramel macarons

I hate it when people call ‘macarons’ ‘macaroons’. One time a waiter at one of my regular cafes insisted that they’re called ‘macaroons’, which eventuated with me flinging out my arm and proclaiming ‘don’t try to out-bake me bitch’, needless to say, I won that argument. If there is any confusion about the difference, macarons are French biscuits made primarily of meringue and almond meal, and macaroons are made of coconut and extra stuff, like fruit, and are American.

Back to the topic of macarons, I filled these ones with some creamy, buttery salted caramel, and sprinkled the shells with Demerara sugar to add a caramel tone. I used the Italian meringue macaron recipe from Adriano Zumbo’s book, and only had one tray of ugly macarons, probably because I forgot to bash them against the bench and let them sit to form a skin.

salted caramel and chocolate tarts, and strawberry and ganache tarts

When I made my mint and white chocolate mousse tart, I had way more chocolate crust than I needed, and I also happened to have a jar of salted caramel I’d made recently, and some strawberries. Naturally, the only thing to do was to make chocolate and strawberry ganache tarts, inspired by this tart from cupcakes and cashmere, and salted caramel and chocolate ganache tarts, which coincidentally were made on Masterchef later that night, does that make me a Masterchef? I hope so.

 

I made these tarts in miniature, because little food is cute, and I brought a couple to school the next day, much to my friends delight. I have since been asked to make one for a girl at school who said she’d pay for one, I’m not entirely sure what to do with this situation because I’d feel a bit stingy to make someone pay for one small tart, but if I bake her something, everyone else will want food too. Teenagers *sigh*.

 

my favourite cupcake recipe

I made these cupcakes for my friend Tash’s birthday, which was the same day as my year 12 formal. I did feel a bit ridiculous; carrying cupcakes around while wearing the nicest dress I own, but everyone should get food on their birthday. In the end, I forgot to hand them out at formal, so during the after party I sat on a couch with a drink bottle and a packet of chips (yes, I am very fun at parties) and offered them to slightly confused, tired and inebriated people. I made chocolate cupcakes filled with salted caramel, with half of them decorated with chocolate frosting and caramel drizzle, and the other half with caramel frosting and a dusting of cocoa powder. I didn’t write down the frosting recipe as I tend to haphazardly throw ingredients into the Kitchen Aid until the frosting is the right consistency, so you're on your own with that one.

This is my go-to cupcake recipe; it makes exactly 12 perfectly sized cupcakes, and can be adapted to any flavour. I’m not sure where this recipe came from, I found it a few years ago in my mums folder of cake recipes. I have since memorised it, and it’s so easy and that it’s the recipe I give to anybody who wants to make cupcakes; particularly people like my friend Harriet who manage to completely destroy cake mixes.