Adriano Zumbo Macarons Tips

Celebrity pastry chef Adriano Zumbo from MasterChef Australia became famous for his macaron towercreation. Today he has four Sydney patisseries to his name producing over 25,000 macarons a week!

What is their most popular flavour? According to thewest.com.au it is salted butter caramel macarons.

Here’s some fantastic macaron tips from this great master:

• If you’re making a cake, have everything ready: oven on, baking tray greased, ingredients weighed. Whatever you do, don’t crack your eggs into the mix, start whipping, then go looking for something you’ve missed!

• Have all the ingredients, especially eggs, butter and milk, at room temperature. You will find they whip and amalgamate better.

• Temperature is the key to making a smooth custard butter cream. Some add the butter when the mixture’s still hot but it tends to split and you end up with a grainy result. Wait for it to cool.

• I love raw caster sugar. It’s a bit more earthy than white sugar, especially for cakes. Preferably don’t use regular sugar in baking because it has a bigger granule, which is harder to dissolve.

• Experiment with different flours. We buy our flour direct and have it milled in Sydney, so it’s quite fresh and absorbs more water, which gives a moister result and better rise for breads and cakes. You can buy 1kg packs of different flours from health-food stores and gourmet grocers, then add your own raising agents.