This French strawberry pistachio macaron cake is the perfect Spring/Summer treat!
In fact, it is my favorite French dessert I’ve *ever* made. That’s a bold statement for me, lover of croissants and macarons!
The sweet/tartness of the strawberries goes so well with the pistachios! I made two different sizes – a larger cake and small individual cakes!
Honestly, when I made these, I thought they were all fails – half of them cracked and seemed overcooked. But I adjusted the oven temperature and cooking times and the next batch came out pretty well. Just my piping skills need some practice.
It is a pistachio macaron bottom, a pistachio cream filling, then a pistachio macaron ring which the strawberries sit in.
Adapted from Laduree’s Sucre: The Recipes book, get it here
Materials needed
- silicone spatula
- parchment paper or silat (I like this silpat made in France)
- electric mixer (your hand will get tired whipping the meringue, I use this super professional one in cherry red, but this model is wonderful too! )
- a food scale (yes, you need this. I use this one)
- a piping tip and piping bag (I like the ateco #806, I use these tips and piping bag)
- Food coloring (the gels or dry powder works best, not the liquid store stuff)
- A macaron template
- food processor (I use this one)
Pistachio Macaron Shell Recipe
• 200g almond flour
• 75g pistachio flour (step 1)
• 250g powdered sugar
• 210g granulated sugar
• 6 egg whites (room-temperature)
• 1/8 cup chopped pistachios
• food coloring (green is traditional color for this cookie)
1 Grind your unshelled pistachios (salted or unsalted, I prefer the salted) using a food processor. Be careful not to turn it into a paste.
2 Sift almond flour, pistachio flour, and powdered sugar through a fine mesh screen into a bowl.
3 Whisk or using a beater, turn 6 egg whites to a foam. Slowly add the granulated sugar to the egg whites as you beat. Whip until the meringue has firm glossy peaks but not super stiff peaks. They should defy gravity and remain in the bowl if you turn it upside down. If you tilt your bowl to the side and the meringue started to slide, keep beating.
4 Add your food coloring.
5 Then fold in 1/3rd of the almond/pistachio/sugar mixture into the meringue with a silicone spatula. Once combined, add another third of the almond mixture. Then the last third.
6 Add the batter to the piping bag. Pipe in rows using your template onto parchment paper. One pan needs to be rings and the other pan needs to be circles. You can choose your size – I made 4″ and 6″ cakes.
7 Pick up the pan and beat onto the counter.
8 Preheat oven to 300 degrees. The cookies need to rest on the counter between 30-60 minutes. They are ready to go into the oven when they are dry to the touch. The shell shouldn’t stick to your fingers.
9 Bake the cookies for 9-15 minutes, one sheet at a time. The rings baked for 9 minutes and the bottoms baked for 14-15 minutes. They are done when they look kind of matte and seem firm if you tap on them. You can always rescue an overcooked cookie with the maturation process that comes later, but you cannot rescue an undercooked one!
10 Remove from the paper once completely cool. If they stick to the paper, they either aren’t cool yet or you undercooked them.
Pistachio cream filling
- 6 tbsp (90 g) butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) whole milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 40 g shelled pistachios, chopped into small pieces
- 1/4 cup (60 g) pistachio paste ( I make my own – just place shelled pistachios in the food processor and process away! Then add a few drops of water until it gets to a paste consistency!)
- In a saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer.
- While milk is heating up, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar. Then whisk in the cornstarch.
- Once milk is at a simmer, pour one third of the milk into the egg mixture. Whisk together. Then pour the whole mixture back into the remaining milk on the saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. You will be wanting to stir with a whisk the whole time so the egg doesn’t burn (other wise you’ll have scrambled eggs!)
- Remove from heat once boiling and cool for 10 minutes. Then whisk in half of the butter. Then let cool to room temp about 70 degrees. If it is taking a while, put in the fridge to cool.
- Once room temp, use a hand mixer and mix until smooth and fluffy. Then mix in the remaining half of butter and pistachio paste. Once well mixed, fold in the chopped pistachios.
To assemble
- Place the cake bottom upside down (if it is too uneven, just leave the flat side down). Then using a piping tip, pipe the pistachio cream onto it. Then place the ring on top.
- Use chopped strawberries to garnish the top. Sprinkle a few pieces of chopped pistachios on the strawberries.
I had set the table this weekend and put these little cakes down on them… they looked so cute I shot some extra pictures! 
The red berries pop against the blue!
I do hope you’ll try the French strawberry pistachio macaron cake! They are so yummy!Have a happy week!
