Like an abused pet that is shown signs of kindness, I approached macaron making again with a little nervousness and trepidation. I’d had a semi successful attempt with a Nigella recipe after a few terrible attempts with a Martha one so I was given a little encouragement. Not enough to make me cocky, far from it in fact. But enough to make me give the recipes a shy, sidelong look every now and again and even think to myself “that would be wonderful in a macaron” (although I’d never say that out loud, that would err on the cocky side, or at least confident side, which I am not on).
I even stocked up on supplies to make them, purchasing a 1kg bag of almond meal. This meant that I was either thinking of making multiple batches of macarons or making friands. As I don’t have a friand tin, all evidence points to the former. So urban-cavewoman style, I brought home my big bag of almond meal like a fresh kill and set it down on the counter proudly, like I had picked the almonds and ground them myself.
This is a fiddly cupcake, I’ll make no bones about it. You need to make the macaron to top it and then make the cupcake base and the rose cream and slice up berries and lychees to fill it and top with a rose petal. But the overall effect is quite spectacular. I made the macaron top first as I knew that if I wasn’t successful at that, then I wouldn’t bother making the rest. You see, I’m still slightly scarred by my failed attempts.
I suspect that Pierre Herme, the creator of the Ispahan would be quite horrified at the idea of his lauded creation being turned into something as cute and kitsch as a cupcake, indeed I saw not a single cupcake in all of my travels in Paris. However it’s not exactly like an Ispahan in that the base is a strawberry rose cupcake and the filling is buttercream and not a buttercream and custard creme anglaise combination (I only have so much patience). Also being Mid Winter in Sydney meant that only strawberries and some blueberries make an appearance so I had to improvise and use strawberries rather than raspberries.
I hope you will find these a fitting homage to the Ispahan, the taste of these are ambrosial and well worth the effort.
Ispahan cupcake
For the macarons:
- 75 grams almonds or almond meal
- 125 grams icing sugar
- 2 large egg whites
- 15grams caster sugar
- Pink colouring
- Strawberry flavouring
- Rose flavouring
For the cupcakes:
- 165g butter
- 100g white chocolate chopped coarsely
- 1 1/3 cups (290g) caster sugar
- 2/3 cup (170ml) water
- 1 teaspoon rosewater
- Pink food colouring
- 1/2 teaspoon strawberry flavouring
- 1 cup (150g) plain flour
- 2 tablespoons Self raising flour
- 1 egg
Plus per cupcake
- 1/2 tablespoon of Buttercream
- 2 lychees chopped finely, drained overnight or pressed using lots of paper towels to squeeze out excess liquid (Herme used tinned lychees)
- 3 strawberries, of a similar size and height
- 2 perfect rose petals
Instructions for the Macarons
1. Mix the almond meal thoroughly with the icing sugar. Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff, but not dry, sprinkle the sugar over and add the flavouring (a few drops of each, they’re strong!) and colourings (gently) and whisk until very stiff. Fold the whites into the almond-sugar dust, and combine gently.
2. Pipe spiral rounds onto your lined baking sheet, using a plain 1 cm nozzle. Let them sit for at least 10 minutes to form a skin. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4
3. Rap the baking sheet hard on the countertop to flatten the batter before baking, then put in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes: they should be set, but not dried out.
4. Remove from the oven and let cool, still on their sheets
Recipe adapted from How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
Instructions for Strawberry Rose cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to moderate 170degrees/150 fan forced. Line 12 hole standard muffin pan with paper cases
2. Combine butter, chocolate, sugar, the water and flavours in small saucepan, stir over low heat until smooth.
3. Transfer mixture to large bowl; cool 15 minutes and then add colouring to get a vivid pink shade. Whisk in sifted flours, then egg. Divide mixture among cases.
4. Bake for 30 minutes and they came out perfectly. Cool in tin for 5 minutes, then turn cakes onto wire rack to cool.
Adapted from the Womens Weekly Cupcakes book.
For assembly:
To assemble Ispahan cupcake, remove greenery from washed and dried strawberries and cut in half. Place 4 halves around the edges straight up and then add 1/2 tablespoon of buttercream and top with lychees. Then add last strawberry half and gently push the strawberries forward so that they resemble a dome (see below). Do not let any lychee juice touch the macaron, it will begin to dissolve it. Like the Wicked Witch of the West, macarons are sensitive to water.
Add macaron and then slice strawberry half and fan and place on top of it. Then add rose petals and voila!
This cupcake is also my entry into Couture Cupcakes’ Best Evah cupcake recipe event. Why would I say these are the best ever? Well they feature macarons, which is always a winner and the combination of fruit, buttercream, cupcake and sweet macaron was perfect, so perfect I found myself eating 3 in one go!
24 Comments | Add your own
Pierre Herme would be proud… and a little envious too
Cupcake base looks deliciously moist. My two favourite loves put together. Macaron and cupcake… genius
Oh you beat me to it, Lorraine
I was planning on making this in the Summer when raspberries were available. The colours are absolutely gorgeous, on your cupcake.
They look divine!! Mmmm!
Hi Lorraine, I’ve been tracking your attempts at making the perfect macaron. After tasting the macaron from both adriano zumbo and lindt, I’m looking forward to giving it ago myself but am a little apprehensive after reasing all the disaster stories. I’ll wait till you uncover the perfect recipe, then i’ll give it a go =D btw nice photos
What a vision of beauty.
I long to create something like that however with a 9 month old in tow and a husband who is allergic to tree nuts alas it is never to be.
I shall just salivate over your blog entries.
I also have just hooked up my Dad with your Paris blogging as he’s a Francophile and hopes to visit again soon.
So thanks
oh my goodness, that looks like heaven in a patty case!
my hubbie doesn’t rate strawberries very highly — like whathe? - i still can’t get over it, actually I still can’t get over the fact that he just isn’t excited about food. ie. shovel it in, get on with what he’s doing. argh!
i’d be willing to unhinge my jaw just to be able to wrap my lips around this mega-cupcake. it’s stunning and i’m sure it’s delicious too. bravo.
Alas, if only macarons were easily veganisable I’d make that gorgeous cupcake straight away!
Seriously beautiful pictures nonetheless.
what a beautiful post!
I’ll go so far as to say those are the most beautiful cupcakes I’ve ever seen! I just want to eat all of them!
Hi Maria-Hehe thanks! I’d love to think that he’d like it
I know, the idea of macaron and cupcake, I don’t know why it took me so long to do one 
Hi Y-I considered waiting until Summer for raspberries to be back in season but that seemed to far away! Thanks!
Hi Carolyn-Thankyou so much
Hi Linda-I think macarons sense fear
I know what you mean though, the horror stories put me off too. I’ll only make them if I’m feeling confident 
Hi Heather-Thankyou! Yes with a 9 month old, I’m sure there’s no time for this sort of thing. Even I thought that it was too fiddly and I am without dependents! Oh lovely, that’s great to know and I hope he finds it useful
Hi Shella-Thankyou
He sounds a bit like my husband, he prefer quantity over quality. *sigh* But I think he puts it on sometimes 
At least you’ve got the gourmet gene!
Hi grace-Hehe it’s quite tall so some jaw unhinging is required. I managed to fit it into my mouth-just! Thankyou
Hi Mel-Oh yes, the egg whites would make that virtually impossible
What a bummer!
Thanks so much!
Hi sarah-Thankyou!
Hi Su-Lin-Why thanks so much!
These babies are definitely worth the effort 
This looks so beautiful! Lovely pictures.
Wow, this is absolutely stunning, Lorraine! A worthy tribute to the original, I think
BTW, I have tagged you for a meme. Entirely up to you if you do it or not. http://www.aspoonfulofsugar.net/blog/2008/08/lunch_at_the_brasserie_bordeau_1.html
Hi Jeena-Thankyou so much!
Hi Angela-I tried my best, thanks for your kind words!
Thanks for that, I’ll try and get my list of 6 together!
Well, I think he would be proud of something so pretty and delicate, darling.
I tried the Ispahan when I was in Paris and it was divine. I would love to try these cupcakes, too!
Soooo beautiful I love your food presentation work!
Its the creative element that turns good food into fantastic food!
I think we all eat with our eyes first!
Duckey x
Hi Patricia-Thankyou so much Patricia!
What I wouldn’t give for another bite of an Ispahan…*sigh* They’re too divine aren’t they!
Hi Duckey-Why thankyou!
I agree, if it looks good, it tastes better!
You got it right in one when you wrote the word “spectacular”. What a fabulous entry Lorraine, I hope you win!
A few of these in a group would more than pass as a celebration ‘cake’ of sorts for any occasion!
Hi Maria-Thankyou so much!
I think if I were to make it again, it would have to be for a special occasion. They’re a bit too fiddly to make for every day!
NQN: You will get better results from your macarons if you grind slivered (not sliced) almonds a little at a time in a coffee grinder rather than use purchased ground almonds - the purchased stuff is never as fine. Then blitz the ground meal with the pure icing sugar so it’s not clumpy. Also pipe them in one with a plain 1cm tip rather than in circles (the ‘feet’ won’t form as well when you pipe circles)
Hi Joy-Thanks, great tips, I will follow those for my next batch!
Oh and I only piped the spiral because that’s what they did with the Laduree Ispahan macaron.
this is absolutely stunning! i love the idea of pairing macarons with a cupcake and have been wanting to do it for ages!!!
Hi airy fairy-Thankyou!
They’re my two favourite sweets so it’s like my ultimate cupcake 
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