Secret Macaroon Video

Hello sweetlings, how are you all doing? So, I've got to come clean about something.. I've been sitting on a French macaroon instructional video for several months…! I know, I'm sorry for holding out on all of you. You see, it was my first attempt at an instructional video and it contains many 'cringe' moments! But recently, I was assured by a Youtuber friend of mine that nobody's expecting perfection from a Youtube video as long as the content is good. So after some thinking, I've finally gathered the courage to let this video go live on the blog.. a lot of hard work went into it after all.

This vid was shot at my house in Auckland by some good friends of mine Clinton Chang and Martin Paris. I wrote the song playing in the background, and it's called "This Winter". It is performed by my band Teacups and recorded by another buddy of mine David Parker. If you like it, you may download our record here.

So here's my "Secret Macaron Video" for all of you lovely readers..

Ssshhh...

Honey, I'm home.

Kia ora! I have been livin' it up back home in Auckland for two and a half weeks. Spring has just sprung, and though weather is still pretty lousy, but I have been spoilt by the warmth of lovely old friends. Waking up to the sound of the waves and the view of the sea is something I've taken for granted before I'd left for the city life in Paris. I am so happy to be home, and for now, I don't even want to think about going back! As clichéd as it is, I have to say, there really is no place like home.

On the first weekend that I was back, one of my good friends' Hongi, was to celebrate her 22nd birthday. I thought it would be great to make her a birthday cake and a macaron tower to mark the momentous occasion. She was pretty excited when I told her of my plans, saying she had never been made a birthday cake before, let alone a macaron tower! So that night, I put on my apron and brought my long-dormant home kitchen to life once again. 

I started by making four batches of macarons for the tower. To fill the cone, I needed about 90 macarons, but I made 120 so I could choose the best 90 and have plenty left to nibble on. I had let Hongi choose the flavours, and she went with rose petal, vanilla bean, salted caramel and pistachio. I thought those were a wonderful selection of classic french flavours, and the colours would work beautifully together. 

Pink macaron shells piped and ready for the oven

Paired macaron shells ready to be filled!

Vanilla bean and white chocolate ganache

I love the black vanilla bean specks!

My favourite part...

After all the macarons were filled, I sealed them in an airtight container and left them in the fridge overnight to mature. This is an important step as the filling will soften the inner shells and fuse them together to create the lovely chewy texture we've come to love of these treats.

The next morning I started work on the birthday cake. Inspired by the "momofuku birthday cake" I decided to surprise Hongi with a funfetti cake. I couldn't wait to see her expression when she cuts into the cake and reveals the colourful surprise inside! I achieved this by stirring in sprinkles into the cake batter before baking. I frosted the cake with a not-so-sweet italian meringue buttercream which I coloured pink for extra cuteness. 

Cake sandwich!

The surprise is slowly hidden..

A simple border to perk up the cake..

A sprinkling of sprinkles on top..

And the birthday cake is done!

The cake was finished just in time for the party in Auckland city, I was a little nervous of how I would transport the monster of a cake safely 22km away by car. So I sat with it on the cake stand on my lap and made my boy Martin drive like a grandma. 

When we got to the venue, all that was left for me to do was assemble the macaron tower!

Putting on finishing touches surrounded by hungry eyes..

C'est fini!

A light circling of ribbon to discourage degustation prior to cake-cutting.

FINALLY MACARONS!

Finally we got to make something I know well! 

What's this for eye candy...

Macaron Anis-Framboise!

I felt so spoiled with all the red berries we got to don our "big mama"pink macarons with.

And this is the first time we had to plate a dessert on a plate,

like one would at a restaurant.

Here's Sandra being creative:

And yes they are huge!!

Imagine taking big bites of these babies while clasping it with both your hands.

It's like a berry macaron burger bonanza. 

And I sure am "lovin' it".... :P

xo Tal

laduree

in 1930, Pierre Desfontaines from Laduree had the crazy idea of 

pairing two meringue cookies together with ganache as filling. 

in 2011, Talita Setyady went to Paris and hit that shit up.

i bought a box of 8 macarons..

 and a rose religieuse..

pastry puffs filled with rose pastry cream and fresh raspberries.

sounds dreamy, but i've always wondered what the inside looks like!

dessert just does not get anymore opulent than this..

i quite like it here

x

what i ate today

I'M IN PARIS!

I FOUND PIERRE HERME!

I ATE THIS!

I MEAN COME ON...

HEAVEN.

my own macaron class

i'm currently at the airport lounge in doha awaiting my plane bound for paris feeling quite a cocktail of emotions. looking back on my last hectic couple of weeks in auckland, i get slight heart palpitations. how did i fit all of those last minute things in?! so many band rehearsals, so much baking..! i recorded ALL my parts for teacups' upcoming EP all day saturday.. and even held a full on macaron class on sunday before I had to leave tuesday morning. it was crazy. it was berserk. it was full on. although because of all this my immune system is on the fritz, i guess i'm quite happy i got to see so many friendly faces before i had to leave :)

about the macaron class, out of the blue sometime last week, chelsea suggested that i should hold my own macaron class before i go, she even offered me her kitchen to use. (thanks chelsea!) if anyone has been to chelsea's place, they'd know that her place is pretty much perfect for anything that involves hoards of people.. and how could i have said no to those pretty blue eyes of hers? so i said alright. bring it on. 

within two days of the facebook event and the blogpost went online.. the class of 20 is fully booked! 

we piped some and baked some shells..

filled them with ganache and buttercream..

(we made rose, pistachio, salted caramel, lavender and 

toblerone if your stomach was wondering)

and everyone got to take a box home!

(there was way more steps than that, people. it wasn't that easy! the people that 

was there can tell you about all the drama that unfolded! hahaha) 

martin took a lot of film footage for a video he's working on for our Toblerone sponsorship.. so stay tuned for that! i'll post it as soon as he finishes editing it.

ok. i think my flight has just been announced. man. i don't know about you guys, but i am excited for "talita's kitchen PARIS EDITION!" :)

talk again soon

x

ps. check out sarah of bread and butter letter's blog post about the night here - thanks sarah! 

update 19.09.11

here's the video we did for toblerone from the night!

tea with friends, season finale.

the teacups' last show was supposed to be a couple of weeks ago at a rowdy pub in kingsland. but we didn't think that was a fitting farewell for our band, as the noisy pub-goers probably were more keen for a DJ to go on. so, chelsea offered to put on a proper final show for us which will hopefully give us one last chance to play and thank everyone who has contributed to the band.. she also designed the poster, which is very cool!

everybody knows that for a uniquely "teacups" experience, some baking had to make an appearance!

I decided to try out a couple of recipes from my trusty copy of 

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes book.

The plum and blueberry upside-down torte..

(tastes as good as it looks!)

And her lemon and poppy seed-sour cream cake baked in a fluted tube pan.

 after two cakes, two batches of macarons and two trays of chocolate chunk cookies..

it was show time!

some spicy chai macarons..

some fairy lights..

some friendly bands..

some happy people..

some laughs!

at our last show!

i had fun.. 

but am sure going to miss these faces:

til we meet again mes amis..

x

ps. most photos by martin

update 04.10.11
here's a video from the night, courtesy of reuben. thanks reuben :)


Teacups at the cross street flats from Reuben Stephens on Vimeo.

my first cooking class

would you like to come?

First thing's first..

Macarons are not impossible to make! With a little patience and attention to detail, these seemingly troublesome treats are one of the most delicious, rewarding and addictive things you can bake :)

(chelsea got pipes)

Out of requests from close friends, I have decided to hold a one night only event in which I will divulge the tips and tricks I have accumulated over making trays and trays of these dreamy treats for Teacups' Cake Stall and various other events.

It's going to be a low key, private occasion with only 12 20 spaces available. You could bring a plate of nibbles to share, and enjoy some wine/bubbly.. word on the street is some mulled wine might be on offer :) 

only $30 per person ($25 each if you bring a friend)

You will have some macarons to take home! these things retail for around $3 each, so you will definitely get your money's worth in sweets!

5.30-8.30pm

This coming Sunday the 21st of August.

at 1/5 Cross Street, Auckland City.

email me at talitasetyady@gmail.com to reserve your space for this one night of fun in the kitchen :)

and feel free to leave a comment below with flavour requests for the night! I know salted caramel and pistachio are strong contenders...

hope to see you there :)

x