Château de Chenonceau - Pink Fairy Floss Macaron Bombe

As a tribute to Catherine de Medici who introduced macarons to France in 1533, I have created a dessert based on bombe Alaska but with a French twist.  Inserted in the centre is a delicate pink macaron surrounded by lemon madeira cake, lemon buttercream, splashes of Cointreau, gourmet chocolate & coffee ice-cream.  Luscious Italian Meringue, the same used for making macaron, is delicately piped over the frozen base which is later laced with Brandy and ignited.

Château de Chenonceau is an extremely rich and luxurious dessert - befitting for Catherine - an Italian woman who became Queen of France.


For my lovely readers that don't have the luxury of time (because we're too busy making macaron), I've included store bought ingredients so that you can create an amazing dessert for a dinner party in less than a few hours. 


Remember, when making macarons always store a few in the freezer so that you have some on hand to make this dessert - your guests will love you!


CHÂTEAU DE CHENONCEAU
INGREDIENTS FOR THE BASE
500 g gourmet chocolate ice-cream (preferably with bittersweet chocolate chips)
500 g gourmet coffee ice-cream (preferably with coffee bean chips)
1 pink macaron (I used fairy floss)
1 lemon madeira cake (with lemon buttercream)
2 tblspn Cointreau (to splash over the lemon madeira cake base)
3 tblspn Brandy (to ignite)

Unfortunately, I could only get a bar but it worked fine

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE
300 g Caster Sugar
75 g water
120 g Egg Whites


INGREDIENTS FOR THE RASPBERRY COULIS
1 punnet raspberries
2 tblspn icing sugar
1 tbsp lime juice

DECORATION
1 punnet blackberries
rose petals


MAKE THE BASE
1.  Line a small pudding bowl or stainless steel bowl with cling film.

2. Scoop the coffee ice-cream into the bowl and smooth the base and sides until the bowl is lined.  Place in the freezer.

You have to work fast here as the ice-cream melts extremely quickly

3. When firm, remove from the freezer.  Using a glass roughly the same size as the pudding bowl, cut a thin layer of lemon madeira cake (including some of the lemon buttercream) to fit the base.  Gently place the  macaron on top of the cake and return to the freezer for about 5 -10 minutes.

Although, I took a photo with the macaron on its side I actually laid it flat

When ready, scoop the chocolate ice-cream around the macaron and over the top until the bowl is completely full. Try to get the ice-cream surface relatively smooth and even.  If you want it to look perfect you can dip a knife in hot water and smooth it over.

The lemon buttercream on the cake was yummy so I left it on.  If you have a round cake it makes this part of the process much easier but nonetheless the bar worked fine

4. Cut either a round or slices of lemon madeira cake to cover the base and drizzle with Cointreau.  Freeze until rock hard.  


MAKE THE RASPBERRY COULIS
1.  Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until you have a sauce.  Pour into a small jug and chill until ready for use.

MAKE THE ITALIAN MERINGUE
1.  Pour the egg whites into a Kitchen Aid mixer and insert the whisk attachment.  Bring the caster sugar and water to the boil in a small saucepan.


2.  When the sugar syrup reaches 115°C start whisking your egg whites into soft peaks. 

3.  As soon as the syrup reaches 118°C slowly pour the syrup into the beaten egg whites in a thin stream.  Continue whisking the IM in the Kitchen Aid until cool enough to pipe.

The whisk should look like a bird's beak

ASSEMBLE CHÂTEAU DE CHENONCEAU
1.  Remove the frozen base from the pudding bowl by gently pulling and removing the cling wrap.  Set on a serving plate.

2.  Pipe the Italian Meringue onto the frozen base.

3.  You can either put Château de Chenonceau back in the freezer until you are ready to serve or serve it now.  If serving now, use the kitchen torch to cook the meringue then pour Brandy over the top and ignite.

4.  Extinguish the flame and decorate with blackberries, rose petals and the raspberry coulis - bon appetit.

Notice how Château de Chenonceau is  studded with a pink macaron (jewel) in the centre

TIP: If you feel like being creative swirl a small amount of liquid food colouring through the Italian Meringue to tint Château de Chenonceau - a soft rose pink would look lovely and compliment the pink macaron in the centre and the rose petals.  Alternatively, use any colour or flavour macaron that takes your fancy and let your imagination go wild. 

I Love Macarons & Art

Tiffany Box Designer Cake

Mad Hatter's Tea Cake

The Painter's Collection (Stephane Glacier)

Chinotto Limone Macaron Shells

These macaron are dedicated to those lovely Italian blokes sipping Chinotto on a balmy afternoon dressed in crisp white linen.

BASIC MACARON:
INGREDIENTS FOR THE TANT POUR TANT (TPT)
300g sifted TPT (150g almond meal with 150g icing sugar)
55g egg whites
 (fresh)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE (IM)
150g caster sugar
37g water
powdered purple food colouring or Wilton gel paste
55g egg whites (old egg whites aged 12-24 hours in a bowl on the kitchen bench)

STEP 1. MAKE THE TPT
Mix the Tant Pour Tant (equal quantities of icing sugar and almond meal) with the fresh egg white until it forms a thick paste, cover with cling wrap and set aside.

 

STEP 2. MAKE THE IM
Pour your aged egg whites into a Kitchen Aid mixer and insert the whisk attachment.  Bring the caster sugar, water and food colouring to the boil in a small saucepan. When the sugar syrup reaches 115°C start whisking your aged egg whites into soft peaks. 

As soon as the syrup reaches 118°C slowly pour the syrup into the beaten egg whites in a thin stream. Continue whisking the IM in the Kitchen Aid until it reaches a temperature between 50-55°C.



The whisk should look like a bird's beak

STEP 3. COMBINE THE TPT & IM
With a spatula, fold one-third of the IM into the TPT and egg white paste and knock out some of the air in the batter. At this stage of the process you can be quite rough when handling.





Gently fold in the rest of the IM into the TPT and combine until you have the right texture (should be glossy and look like cake mixture). Be careful not to over-mix the batter here or it will get too runny and your shells may crack in the oven.














STEP 4. PIPE YOUR MACARON SHELLS
Fill a piping bag with the macaron batter and place some parchment paper over a baking sheet.

Put four small dabs of macaron mix underneath the parchment paper in each corner to secure the paper. Pipe 3.5 - 4cm diameter circles onto the parchment paper, tap the tray on the work surface to remove air bubbles and leave to dry for about 15-20 minutes to form a crust and are dry to touch.





STEP 5. COOK YOUR MACARON SHELLS
Cook the macaron for 17 mins at 150°C (fan forced oven). To release steam, leave the oven door open slightly. If this doesn't work for you, keep experimenting until you find the right temperature as every oven is different. Once cooked, remove from the baking sheet and leave to cool on the parchment paper over a wire rack. I have a new commercial style oven which is very powerful so I have to reduce the temperature by another 20°C and cook my shells for 19 minutes.

STEP 6. ASSEMBLE YOUR MACARON
Remove the shells from the parchment paper and pair like sizes together. Pipe a decent blob of ganache onto the shell, then place the lid on top and twist slightly so that the ganache flows out towards the edge of the macaron. When piping the ganache onto the shell always leave a small rim.

STEP 7. STORE YOUR MACARON
Store your macaron in the fridge for 24 hours prior to eating so that the humidity helps the ganache to soak into the shell and allow the flavours to develop. Try not to eat your macaron the day they are made as they are too dry. Allow the macaron to return to room temperature prior to serving. The recipe for the Chinotto Limone Ganache appears in my previous post.

Chinotto Limone Ganache

INGREDIENTS
200g quality couture... I mean couverture (53-56%) bittersweet chocolate
110g Chinotto (Italian cola)
Zest from half a lemon (try not to include the white pith)
60ml pouring cream (35% fat)
30g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

MAKE THE GANACHE
1.  Place the chocolate into a heat resistant bowl and microwave until melted.  Microwave for 40 seconds in the first instance then 20 second intervals until ready.
2.  Place the Chinotto, lemon and cream into a small saucepan and heat until it reaches boiling point.

3.  Pour the Chinotto/cream and lemon mixture into the melted chocolate and whisk.
4.  Add the butter and continue to whisk until all the butter is combined and the ganache is glossy and smooth.
5.  Cover with cling film to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until firm but not solid.
6.  When ready, place in a piping bag and fill your macaron shells.


Note: for a stronger Chinotto flavour you can omit the cream entirely  - replace the same quantity with more Chinotto.