Julie’s Blog

• Pre-heat the oven to 160°.
• Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
• Separate the eggs and place the whites in a large bowl for whipping.
• Wash and zest the oranges, extract the juice and add the juice, zest and oil to the yolks.
• Mix the yolks lightly and add to the flour. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
• Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and whip to stiff peak.

  Using a metal spoon, fold the whites into the batter.
  
• Pour the mixture into an UN-greased chiffon tin. Bake at 160°C until cooked through, when tested with a skewer (about 60 minutes)
• Remove the tin from the oven and turn upside down to cool (preventing the cake from collapsing in on itself).
  

Make the icing

• Cream the butter, icing sugar and zest. Gradually add the juice a little at a time to achieve a spreadable consistency.
• Once the cake is completely cooled, ice and decorate as desired.

• Melt the chocolate in the microwave on low power OR over a bain marie
• Add the water and stir until smooth

• Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 23cm round cake tin, and set aside.
• In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, spices, bicarb, baking powder and salt).
• Make a large well in the centre and in a separate bowl mix the eggs, oil, sugar and syrup.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients and whisk well until there are no lumps.
• Add in the carrot and the nuts and pour into the prepared tin.
• Bake for approximately an hour and a half until a skewer comes away clean.
• Leave to cool slightly in the tin before turning it out, and leave it too cool completely before icing.

To make the icing

• Beat the butter until light and smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until they are combined. Add in the icing sugar and the flavouring and mix gently. Once combined spread the icing on the top and sides of the cake as desired. Decorate with a few extra nuts.

• Preheat the oven to 160°C and line two trays with baking paper or non-stick mats.
• Add the egg white powder to the egg whites. Using a hand-held mixer, beat until foamy.
• Carry on beating the egg whites to stiff peaks, while gradually adding the castor sugar.
• Sift together the icing sugar and ground almonds.
• Add the almond mixture to the stiffly beaten egg whites. Add colour (as desired) and flavourant and mix together until a smooth consistency is achieved (not more than 5 minutes)
• Place the mixture into a piping bag and cut a hole of no more than 1 cm in diameter.
• Pipe circles onto a baking tray (about 4 cm in diameter) leaving about 2 cm space between each. Use a template to ensure they are all the same size.
• Tap the bottom of the tray vigorously to knock out any air bubbles that may be inside.
• NB: Leave to stand for 15 - 30 minutes for a croute (crust) to form. The top of the macaron should be dry to the touch before baking. If unsure, leave them a little longer.
• Place in an oven at 160 ˚C and bake for approximately 15 minutes.

Butter icing filling

• Beat together the ingredients and set aside for filling the macarons.
• Pipe the filling into the shells and sandwich them together.