**The Recipe for Macaron Cake**

Once your cakes have cooled, level off the tops to make them nice and even. Then, out of each layer you want to cut out an 8-inch circle and a 6-inch circle of cake. Smear some ganache onto a cake stand or a plate to stop the cake from slipping and then add a 6-inch layer of cake. Now top that with a good lashing of thick, yummy salted caramel all over the top. And then add a Macaron upside down on top of that. Next, smother than in ganache.

I couldn't make a giant macaron cake just out of cake, it needs to have that macaron taste incorporated into it so that someone who loves macarons will love this cake. Then top that with your 8-inch circle of cake. For the centre filling area, I'm going to use the other two macaron discs but I want to make the filling a little bit smaller than the shell of the macaron. So just use a circle and cut it down to the size you want it to be.

Now sandwich those two together with more of that thick gooey caramel. And for those of you who have been asking, these sparkly silver nail wraps are called Sugar Sweet and I'll put a link below to where you can get some for yourself. Next, you want to cover the whole thing in ganache so that it looks like the filling on our macaron. Cover the top and then cover in all the sides there and smooth it around.

Now add some of the pink buttercream across the top of the cake and then place that ganachecoated caramel filled macaron on top in the middle. For the top half of our shell, cover the 8-inch cake in a thin coat of buttercream on the top and the sides. Once you've done that, you want to flip it onto the cake. Now, there's not really an easy way to do this, you just have to do it fast. Just be bold and flip it over onto the cake and peel off that paper.

Take your macaron, turn it upside down and add ganache all over it and place that onto the cake. Ganache the final 6-inch layer and add that upside down on the very top. To make this look a bit more macaron shaped, you're going to need to cut around that to player of cake, angling it down towards the edge of the macaron shell that we've got there.

And then once you down that with both shells, we want to cover them both with a thin layer of buttercream, and this is the crumb coat. And it's called that because it's catching all of those fresh cake crumbs. If you're using fresh homemade cake, it will have crumbs and that's ok because that means it's going to be really yummy and that's why we do this crumb coat first.

Place it in the fridge for an hour or so, so that the buttercream becomes firmer. And then add more buttercream on top and spread it out. See how now we're not getting crumbs in our icing. My secret to smoothing out the top of a rounded surface is to use a thin, bendy strip of plastic or acetate and run it across the surface of the cake, allowing it to bend with that shape.

And use it to just keep smoothing out the buttercream, just wipe off any excess icing off the acetate and then just run it across again and you'll get that nice, smooth rounded curve. Now for our foot of the macaron place there rest of the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle and just pipe squiggly lines around that section there.

If you don't have a piping bag you can just use a ziplock bag with the little corner cutoff instead. If you have any buttercream on the ganache in our filling there, just use a knife to smooth it off so that you can just see the ganache in the middle. And there you have a pretty macaron cake that actually tastes of macarons, so it's perfect for the macaron lover.

**How to Make Macarons**

Subscribe to HowToCookThat for more crazy sweet creations. Click here for more YouTube channel, here for the recipe and here for more videos on making macarons. Champion of the week goes to Elvira who has made quite a few of my cakes now and is doing a great job.

**Tips from the Creator**

If you want me to see what you've made just make sure you put @howtocookthat in the description on your Instagram or you can upload the photo in the comments section of the recipe post for the world to see. Make it a great week and I'll see you on Friday.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to How To Cook That, I'm Ann Reardonand today we are making a giant macaron cakewith layers of chocolate cake, ganache, macaron,rich salted caramel and buttercream on top.There is no fondant in this cake.To start with make one and half times my richchocolate cake recipe in two trays and therecipe and quantities for that are on theHowToCookThat.net website and I'll link tothat below.For the ganache all you need is chocolateand cream.Pour the cream over the top of the chocolateand microwave that for 30 seconds, stir, 30seconds stir until it is smooth and glossyand yummy and then leave to cool to room temperature.To make the macaron layer you'll need eggwhites, icing sugar, almond meal and sugar.Add the sugar to the egg whites and then sifttogether the almond meal and the icing sugarusing a coarse sieve, if you use a fine sievethe almond meal won't go through.Once that's done whip up your egg whites andsugar on high speed until they are stiff enoughthat you can turn the bowl upside down withoutit falling out.Let's test that ... let's tip it upside down,yep, we're good.Now whip it for another two minutes to dryit out a bit more.Add in the dry ingredients and start to foldthem together, making sure that as you'refolding you wipe off the spatula every nowand then and wipe down the sides of the bowl.This just makes sure that you're scrapingall of that in, you're not getting any unevenlymixed mixture because that would cause themacaron to crack.Once everything is combined, continue to fold,scooping right down to the bottom and up overthe top and then stop and have a look whatit looks like when you drop some off the spatula.It needs to really slowly start to smoothitself back into the rest of the mixture.If it just holds it shape, it's not readyyou need to fold it some more.And keep going and keep folding until it looksa bit like this.Place that mixture into a piping back andpipe a big spiral onto non-stick baking paper,this is much bigger than baking little macarons.I have a circle cut out underneath the bakingpaper just to give me a rough guide as tothe size of this.Lift up your tray and drop it on the counterto get rid of any air bubbles and do thata few times on each side.And then repeat that piping so that you endup with four discs altogether and then justbake those in the oven.They will take longer than normal macaronsbecause they have to got to cook all the waythrough to the centre.To make the salted caramel you need sugar,water, cream and glucose syrup.Add the water to the pan with the sugar andthen tip in the glucose syrup.If you can't get hold of that you can uselight corn syrup instead.Stir that over high heat until the sugar isdissolved and then wash down the sides ofthe pan using some water on a pastry brush.And what this does is it just gets rid ofany sugar crystals that are on the edge andif you leave them there it can make the caramelcrystalise out, it will go like fudge insteadof a nice smooth caramel.Once the bubbles start to slow and the mixturegoes golden it's nearly ready.You need to watch it closely because we wantquite a deep caramel but we don't want thisto burn so just stand at the pot and watchit.As you see it starting to get a bit deeper,that deep golden colour looks good, that willhave a deep caramel flavour so pour in thecream, a little at a time, keep your handout of the way so that rush of steam doesn'tburn you.Add in a bit more of the cream and then stirthat around.You'll have like a hot, sweet cream and thena thicker sugary mass at the bottom.You want to keep stirring really well to makethat all one consistency.Then add a candy thermometre to the pan andheat that up to 240F.And then immediately remove it from the heatand pour it into a container.Now if you don't have a candy thermometreyou can put a drop of it onto a cool surfaceand see how thick that caramel is when itcools down.After stirring the cream through it thoughit took only about 30 seconds for it to getup to 240F so you should be able to just eyeballit and do it without a thermometre.Add as much salt as you like and stir thatthrough your caramel but do not taste it becauseremember this is very, very hot.Make up one batch of vanilla buttercream andadd some gel colour to make it the shade thatyou want your macaron to be.And again the recipe for that is on the howtocookthat.netwebsite and there's videos showing how tomake buttercream in all different flavoursthere.Once your cakes have cooled, level off thetops to m ake them nice and even and thenout of each layer you want to cut out an 8-inchcircle and a 6-inch circle of cake.Smear some ganache onto a cake stand or aplate to stop the cake from slipping and thenadd a 6-inch layer of cake.Now top that with a good lashing of thick,yummy salted caramel all over the top.And then add a Macaron upside down on topof that.Now smother than in ganache.I couldn't make a giant macaron cake justout of cake, it needs to have that macarontaste incorporated into it so that someonewho loves macarons will love this cake.Then top that with your 8-inch circle of cake.For the centre filling area I'm going to usethe other two macaron discs but I want tomake the filling a little bit smaller thanthe shell of the macaron.So just use a circle and cut it down to thesize you want it to be.Now sandwich those two together with moreof that thick gooey caramel.And for those of you who have been asking,these sparkly silver nail wraps are calledSugar Sweet and I'll put a link below to whereyou can get some for yourself.Next you want to cover the whole think inganache so that it looks like the fillingon our macaron.So cover the top and then cover in all thesides there and smooth it around.Now add some of the pink buttercream acrossthe top of the cake and then place that ganachecoated caramel filled macaron on top in themiddle.Now for the top half of our shell.Cover the 8-inch cake in a thin coat of buttercreamon the top and the sides.Once you've done that you want to flip itonto the cake.Now there's not really and easy way to dothis you just have to do it fast.Just be bold and flip it over onto the cakeand peel off that paper.Take your macaron, turn it upside down andadd ganache all over it and place that ontothe cake.Ganache the final 6-inch layer and add thatupside down on the very top.Now to make this look a bit more macaron shaped,you're going to need to cut around that toplayer of cake, angling it down towards theedge of the macaron shell that we've got there.And then once you down that with both shellswe want to cover them both with a thin layerof buttercream, and this is the crumb coat.And it's called that because it's catchingall of those fresh cake crumbs.If you're using fresh homemade cake it willhave crumbs and that's ok because that meansit's going to be really yummy and that's whywe do this crumb coat first.Place it in the fridge for an hour or so,so that the buttercream becomes firmer.And then add more buttercream on top and spreadit out.See how now we're not getting crumbs in ouricing .Now my secret to smoothing out the top ofa rounded surface is to use a thin, bendystrip of plastic or acetate and run it acrossthe surface of the cake, allowing it to bendwith that shape.And use it to just keep smoothing out thebuttercream, just wipe off any excess icingoff the acetate and then just run it acrossagain and you'll get that nice, smooth roundedcurve.Now for our foot of the macaron place therest of the buttercream into a piping bagfitted with a small round nozzle and justpipe squiggly lines around that section there.If you don't have a piping bag you can justuse a ziplock bag with the little corner cutoff instead.If you have any buttercream on the ganachein our filling there just use a knife to smoothit off so that you can just see the ganachein the middle.And there you have a pretty macaron cake thatactually tastes of macarons so it's perfectfor the macaron lover.Subscribe to HowToCookThat for more crazysweet creations.Click here for more YouTube channel, herefor the recipe and here for more videos onmaking macarons.Champion of the week goes to Elvira who hasmade quite a few of my cakes now and is doinga great job.If you want me to see what you've made justmake sure you put @howtocookthat in the descriptionon your Instagram or you can upload the photoin the comments section of the recipe postfor the world to see.Make it a great week and I'll see you on Friday.\n"