Macaron disaster! Help!

[Pommier]

I made macarons this afternoon, following the recipe exactly. All went well until they were in the oven when they started getting cracks. When they were cooked and I left them on the tray to cool, one after another just collapsed in on itself, then when I went to remove them from the silicone baking sheet they mostly left the bottom 'skin' behind.

I assembled them and they don't taste too bad, but they look a total mess.

Any advice, or should I cancel my place on The Great British Bakeoff (joke!!)

[mint]

I have never made these so I can't help you there.

I have a French friend who makes superb ones but she is not around to ask at the moment as she is visiting family in Montpelier.

Talking about baking, I was watching Saturday Kitchen this morning and Tom Kerridge made what looks to be a very rich and sumptuous cake with no flour but ground almonds.

Did anybody else see that prog?  Any thoughts?

PS calorie-busting what with the ground almonds and SEVEN eggs[:D]

[Loiseau]

I have only once made macaroons, and that was using a kit from a French supermarket (don't tell idun!). They were extremely successful, and looked just like the real thing.

I remember the thing that surprised me most about making them was that one had to put them in a COLD oven and then turn it on to the desired temperature. I wonder if your recipe specified the same, Pommier? If not, this might have been a reason for their collapse.

Bet they tasted good though!

Angela

[mint]

I saw some silicone sheets with printed circles on them for making macarons in Aldi today.

No problem passing those as they are just something that are not a must-make for me.

I also saw some minced pork for farcie and that was something that I MUST have.  From my last 2 lots of sausage meat parcels, I would say that the meat was très belle qualité!

Meanwhile, I couldn't decide which Christmas cake recipe to use and so I am going to adapt a Mary Berry fruit cake one as I am a bit late making the cake.  However, I will use some cranberries and some dried figs as well as the usual currants, sultanas, etc and I will add some walnuts which I have shelled and lightly roasted today.

Also got hold of some rhum ambre today and I do love the taste of that in cakes.  Loiseau, I have you to thank for using rum because of the recipe you gave me for madeleines!

The tips that one learns on the Forum............it's no wonder that I am such a prolific and enthusiastic user [:D]

[idun]

I have never made macaroons. I like them, but reckon that I would be the only one eating them, and let's face it, one cannot make 'just' a couple, so don't. 

If a packet works Loiseau, then why not.

I stick to my Farmhouse Kitchen recipes for christmas cake, if I make one ( me who eats it, so sometimes I don't ) and xmas puds, as this is the best recipe I have ever tasted and I give xmas puds away to friends. Funny so many people say that they don't like xmas pud, but this is one is fruit rich with a good dose of cognac and stout and not 'sweet'.

Sorry no idea what to say about the macaroon's that cracked. Maybe you'll have to look at a few recipes and see what the recommended oven heat is, and if the oven is preheated. And as I no longer have a decent oven, sounds like IF I ever considered making them I'd need one.

[CSV]

http://zumbobaking.com.au/troubleshooting/#cracked-shells

[Pommier]

Many thanks for the replies. I'm going to look at other recipes because the one I used said to heat the oven to 170, turn it down to 140 and put the macarons in, one tray at a time. I reckon it was too hot.

[Jonzjob]

Is us blokes allowed in on this one??

S o d it, here goes [:-))]

Never made the macarons, just munched loads before we moved over and traveled overnight on the Britanie Ferries, miam, maim!

But I do make a MEAN Krimble cake from the recipe given to me a long time ago by a very dear friend, died now unfortunately, who made the 150 year celebration cake for the Thirsk parish church.

Here's  the recipe

Bettys' CHRISTMAS

CAKE These ingredients make a 7" or 8" cake.

1/2 lb butter

½ lb soft brown sugar

(The colour of the finished cake depends on whether you use the light

golden sugar, the medium or the dark brown sugar)•

½ lb plain flour

4 eggs

1 orange

1/4 candied peel

(optional)

1/4 ground almonds

1/4 glacé c.cherries

½ lb sultanas

½ lb raisins

1 lb currants (The

small Vostizza currants are the best)

1/4 chopped nuts.

(optional)

1. Cream butter and

   sugar.

2. Beat in the 

   eggs one at a time.

3. Stir in the grated

   orange rind and add the orange juice.

4. Fold in the plain

   flour

5. Fold in the ground

   almonds.

6. Stir in the

   chopped cherries and candied peel and chopped nuts if you are using
   them.

7. Slowly add the

   sultanas, raisins and currants.

8. Give the mixture a

   thorough mix until all the fruit is evenly mixed in.

      9. Spoon the

mixture into a greased and lined cake tin. Even it off with the

back of a spatula and make a slight well in the centre - this

helps    to get a level surface on the top of the cake.

10. Bake in oven 150ºC

    for approximately 4 hours.

Handy Tips

A good way to test

whether the cake is ready is to insert a knitting needle down the

centre. If the Needle comes out clean and dry then the cake is

ready. i the needle feels sticky then the cake needs a bit longer.

For a larger cake, say

a 10" tin, then double up on the quantity used here.

When the cake is cold,

pierce some holes down the cake and gradually pour the spirit of your

choice over the cake, say at weekly intervals until the cake is to be

cut.

If you wish to place

whole almonds on the top of the cake, then, blanch and halve some

whole almonds then when the cake has been in the oven half-an-hour,

remove from oven and quickly put on the nuts and return to the oven.

This operation must be done quickly because i if the cake is out
.of

the oven for too long then the fruit may sink.

That is the exact recipe she gave to me probably 30 or so years back and I have never made a different one. Our French neighbour/friends are nearly as keen on it as am I!

A bit, but not too late to make it, just feed it carefully with the Armagnac [8-|]

I also do a slimming chocolate cake. No flour, just crushed cooked sweet chestnuts, eggs, chokky, butter, etc, so no flour to be fattening [Www][Www]

Ask nicely and I'll sort the recipe for that for you too [8-|]  It's YUMMIE !!

[mint]

Jonz, I am relieved to see that you do not put some of your sawdust in it!

What a man of many talents you are [:D]

Joking apart, thank you for the recipe.  I might make it in time for Easter!

I like the ground almonds you mention because I think that should keep the cake moist.  I now have a bottle of whisky (alas fast disappearing down my throat) and one of rum on stand-by.  Of the two, I favour the rum as the flavour of alcohol should be more pronounced and the dark colouring would nicely colour the cake.

What do folks think?

[idun]

I prefer dark rum in my heavy fruit things like xmas cake or xmas pud. If I on have  a little in then I always use cognac and not whisky, or whiskey. Just a preference.

[Jonzjob]

I, like Mrs JJ, likes to cook with wine or spirits.

Sometimes we even put some in the cooking [:-))][8-)]

[mint]

[quote user="idun"]I prefer dark rum in my heavy fruit things like xmas cake or xmas pud. If I on have  a little in then I always use cognac and not whisky, or whiskey. Just a preference.

 

[/quote]

I agree, id, about the preferred spirit.

For the cognac, however, because I live in the south-west, it's more likely to be armagnac (nice coincidence that I also prefer armagnac to cognac).

 

As for the whisky or even whiskey, that's my preferred spirit for drinking[:)]

 

[Jonzjob]

Armagnac is better in my opinion. A bit like the difference between Sham-pain and Blanquette. The sham-pain people came down this way 100 years after Blanquette had been going and took the idea back with them. They had the better spin and salesmen and now charge the earth. A VERY good bottle of 'poo is possibly better, but until you get to that height of pricing the Blanquette is about 1/3rd the price and much better!!

Con-yac had the same in that they had better salesmen too. There are just about 4 or 5 con-yac brands where there are 50 or more for Armagnac, my favorite and I haven't bought any since this afternoon [8-|]

[mint]

Ah, Jonz, I always knew that you were a man of distinction.............heavy spender![:P]................or whatever the proper words are[:-))]

[idun]

I cannot tell the difference between cognac, armagnac, even polignac in a well 'rested' fruit cake or xmas pud.  I cannot even tell when I have used it in when cooking when I set it alight. As I never have a little glass of the stuff to make sure it is 'ok' like several of, well....... most of my friends do, I don't see how I would ever be able to tell.

[Jonzjob]

What you need to do is to work out the weight of the cake and devide it into your own weight and then you have the perfect measure. Then it;s one unit for the cake and however units for the cook. That way you always have a lovely cake and a happy cook, even if the cake is bleedin awful, which never happens [8-|] Even if it did happen you would never know, so win,win init [:-))]

[idun]

for my then boyfriend's first big sailing trip I baked a cake, well a xmas cake, thought it would be good to have when they were tired and hungry. And as I baked it a few days before they left and it hadn't time to 'rest', I prodded it with a skewer and doused it in rum..... had to, for a sailing trip.

I wrapped it up very well and they said that the fumes nearly blew their socks off when they opened it up and they considered keeping it to use as a flare if they got into difficulties..... but they didn't, they ate it.

JJ, just the thought of drinking spirits revolts me. In fact drinking most alcoholic drinks does. A little wine with a meal,but rarely, the odd guiness and a few nights ago I went a bit 'mad' and had a half shandy, I hadn't had a 'strong' drink in weeks. I must say in France, in summer I'd occasionally have a Monaco whilst we were out, I like them.

However, I do love cake and I do love merangues and macarons to bring this back to the original subject![Www]

[nectarine]

haha great story Idun!

[Jonzjob]

The only alcool that passes my lips is purely for midecinel raesons you undresit, sorry understand. Got a bit carried away there for a moo [8-)]