Holy Macaron I am in macaron heaven at Mauderne Baking School.
Have you ever wondered how to make macarons? then wonder no more as at Mauderne Baking School you’ll be able to learn how to make cute French Macarons from scratch.
I was invited down along with Geeta another member of Love Pop Ups London on a complimentary basis by Maude to join her at her house to learn the techniques of how to make a perfect macaron.
Mauderne Baking School
At Mauderne Baking School you can learn how to make macaroons or pastry by professional bakers, Maud (founder of Mauderne), Massy or Matteo.
They want to bring happiness to people and enable everyone the success of being a master by sharing all their secrets and tips from which they have learnt from working in professional kitchens within Maud’s home in Parson Green or by within the basement at Chelsea Creperie.
From sourcing and using only the best ingredients they enhance the experience resulting in making the best tasty macarons or choux pastry.
The cooking class sessions are only available for small groups and individuals of up to 12 people to give everyone their full dedicated time.
Maud
Maud is the founder of Mauderne Baking School and provides a macaron class and a pastry making class where you can learn how to make choux pastry and eclairs.
Maud is from France and learnt her skills by attending schools within France that were focused in dessert making.
In April 2018 she decided to launch Mauderne Baking School to create special and unique ways of sharing her passion to all about macaron and pastry making
“I want to make pastry and cooking classes accessible to everyone even with no experience and no professional equipment’s.”
Maud
Massy
Massy is an Italian Head Pastry Chef at a famous restaurant in London. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and his stories when it comes to pastry.
“I want to share with you all the secrets and tips I have learnt during the last 10 years as a Pastry Chef.”
Massy
Matteo
Matteo is an Italian Pastry Chef and has worked in some of London’s most iconic restaurants. He loves his job as he loves working with sugar and chocolate to make artistic creations.
“I want everyone to enjoy and learn during this experience and to enable you make delicate pastry at home.”
Matteo
Macaron afternoon with Maud
I have never made macarons and to be quite honest I have never really liked them either from the texture and taste but I have always wondered how they were made. Why? as I am a keen cook and love learning new skills within the kitchen, I just had to accept Maud’s invite and learn how to make them.
Upon jumping on the train heading to Parsons Green to Maud’s home my mind started to drift in wondering how my macarons might end up and what flavours we will be creating within the 2.5 hours.
Entering within Maud’s apartment which is above some shops I was impressed by the kitchen / lounge space and so clean and immaculate.
After taking our shoes off and leaving our bags within the hallway Maude welcomed me in who was friendly and very welcoming making me feel at ease.
Once everyone had arrived Maud then gave us an introduction of how she got into macaron and pastry making and how she wants to pass her knowledge down to other keen bakers in how to make these sweet delicacies at home, so you can recreate and impress friends, colleagues and family.
Macaroons are a French delicacy and Pierre Herme is one of the most famous French macaron bakers but you may be surprised to learn he uses the Italian method in his recipes. Using the same techniques as Pierre using taught us how to make the Italian meringue to create the most perfect macarons.
What is the difference and why the Italian method?
Essentially both methods yield essentially the same ingredients but there are a few subtle differences from the shape and taste, in the shape and taste between the two types. The French meringue involves whipping uncooked egg whites and sugar to create a fluffy and airy base for your dessert. The Italian method involves heating up the sugar with water making it into a syrup that is poured into the uncooked egg whites while beating it simultaneously.
The Italian method is a little more complex with more steps but it apparently produces a meringue that is more stable to use during the tricky macaronage stage when the dry and wet ingredients are incorporated together. Conversely, the French Meringue may be easier to master but it the macaronage stage is relatively more difficult because the meringue is so delicate. With the French meringue, it’s very easy to over mix the batter leading to less than desired results. The Italian method is the more popular method used in most bakeries due to it’s stability and visual appeal.
Italian macaroons have a more vertical rise whereas the French ones remains more like flat disks. Besides the visual differences, Italian macaroons are also said to be crumblier while the French macarons are less sweet, chewier and tastes more like almonds due to the lower ratio of sugar to almonds.
Macaron making with Maud
Upon the kitchen surface Maud had all the ingredients measured out out which included 150g icing sugar, 150g almond powder, 55g white eggs, 55g white eggs, powder colouring, 150g granulated sugar and 38g water.
Firstly she poured the water and granulated sugar into a pan and boiled without stirring to 118°C.
Simultaneously, whilst the sugar syrup is bubbling away she beat the egg whites in a KitchenAid mixer.
She then poured slowly the syrup into the beaten egg whites and kept beating it until it cooled and started to form peaks.
Whilst the meringue was cooling down, she proceeded to blend the icing sugar and almond powder together.
With the other bowl of egg whites, she added a green food powder for colouring and started to gently fold into the batter.
We then each got to fold parts of the Italian meringue together in a bowl. Once it was all folded together, we then proceeded to flatten the mixture against the side of the bow to reduce the air which is called macaroner. We did this until we got to a shiny and smooth consistency.
Maud then showed us how to make and fill a piping bag.
We then each piped our macaron mixture out onto a stencilled baking mat which consisted of round circles making it easy for us to create the perfect sized macarons.
Once the sheet was complete, we had to slam our tray 3-4 times to remove air bubbles and flatten evenly the macarons shells.
We were then given the option to add pistachio nuts on to our macaron disks if we liked. After we then left to dry a little to form a crust for around 20 minutes at room temperature.
During this time Maud made us some of her speciality tea which consisted of a mixture of ingredients which was absolutely delicious. I won’t say what she uses to make her special tea as she loves people to try and guess on the day but all I will say is that it contained coco beans so very fitting for a macaron class.
Plus we learnt that the paintings within her flat was all done by her as she loves painting and art.
I especially loved the red painting.
We were then given a task of box making for our macarons. Given a flat pack we proceeded to make our box which will hold 8 of our macarons within. As we had obviously made more than 8 though during the class we could eat the remaining ones. In fact between us 6 I think we ended up making over 80.
Once our macarons were then dry which you can tell by delicately touching the top Maud then popped our macarons into a preheated oven at 150°C (fan) for around 10 to 14 minutes.
After coming out of the oven Maud then gave us several options of flavours to choose from which was a ganache made out of passion fruit, lime, pistachio, and chocolate with a hint of chilli. Tasting each flavour I loved them all however I especially loved the fruity ones as I love anything citrussy. I decided though to make two macarons from each of the flavours.
Before piping though we firstly had to pair our macaron shells with each other as some of them were longer or wider than others. Once paired I then proceeded to pipe the flavouring onto one of the disks and then pressing gently down with the other disk making a perfect macaron.
Once all piped, I chose my best 8 and placed them in my classy looking box making them look even more professional and as if I had bought them from a shop.
With my spare macarons I ate them ALL and as I mentioned earlier, I have never liked macarons but I loved these ones was it because of the flavourings of the macaron base itself. Well after discovering that French macarons use more almonds within their macarons which I am not keen on I came to the conclusion that I must love these as they do not contain as much almond as French macarons do plus these Italian macarons were not as chewy as what French macarons are. So perhaps when I have ever tried a macaron, they may of been French ones but these Italian ones were a real treat, being sweet, full of flavour and crunchy.
Class on 27 July 2019
Holy macaron
This was a fantastic class taught by the lovely Maud but I am sure the other pastry chefs who teach choux pastry are just as lovely. Maud is welcoming, friendly and made the whole macaron experience easy to understand from start to finish.
I also loved the fact that we also got to take away 8 of our macarons in such cute box as with most cookery / bakery classes you have to take your own containers so this was a nice touch. The box also made our macarons look even classier and professional.
This class is certainly one of the best I have ever done. So, if you are looking for how to make macarons as you love them, or you are looking to impress family and friends with an edible unique gift made by you or as a gift for a friend, colleague or family member then I highly recommend Mauderne Baking School.
Holy macaron I can’t believe it but I think I now love macarons.
Mauderne Baking School
French Macaron Class
Cost: £49.00
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
Number of participants: Up to 12 people
Level: open to all (from 6 years old)
Languages: all experiences are available in English
Locations: Chelsea Creperie (Basement), 240 Fulham Road, London, SW10 9NA or Mauderne Kitchen (Flat 3), 616a Fulham Road, London, SW6 5RP
Leave with the secrets of making macarons and a box of 8 homemade macarons by you
Pick your class (macarons or pastry baking), select the number of slots you would like to book and pick your date.
Mauderne has now CLOSED business for a short while.
Thank you to Maud of Mauderne for teaching me the techniques of macaron making. All views are my own honest opinion.
Click link below to read all our write ups who attended this afternoon class in July via clicking the link below.
“I love going out discovering new and existing restaurants, theatres, immersive experiences and so much more but I also love staying in and discovering new gadgets, gaming and cooking.
Lovely pictures and I do love macarons ::)