The recipe
Lore
Baby Daisies is a tiny, visual name for a technically unforgiving bake. Maxy’s handshake belongs to a set of macarons whose appeal depended on both delicacy and control: even shells, a settled filling, and a finish that made the floral idea legible without losing the biscuit beneath it.
Source note
Public recreation / fan method — not the baker’s original formula. Paraphrased from Daisy Macarons, Relaxed Recipes; this is not Maxy Maligisa’s original formula.
Ingredients
- Shells: 150g ground almonds; 150g icing sugar; 150g caster sugar; 38ml water; 55g egg white; 1g cream of tartar; white gel colouring; another 55g egg white
- Raspberry cream: 125g cold mascarpone; 80ml cold double cream; 30g icing sugar; 12g freeze-dried raspberry powder; 15ml sieved raspberry purée, optional
- Salted caramel: 100g caster sugar; 60ml warmed double cream; 30g unsalted butter; 2g flaky sea salt
- Decoration: 100g white fondant; a little yellow fondant or royal icing; yellow gel colouring; cooled boiled water
Method
- Prepare 4cm circle or daisy templates. Blitz and sieve the almonds and icing sugar.
- Boil caster sugar and water to 118°C. Whisk one egg white with cream of tartar, pour in syrup, add colouring, and beat 7–9 minutes until glossy and barely warm.
- Stir the other egg white into the almond mixture. Beat in a third of the meringue, then fold in the rest until the batter flows like slow lava.
- Pipe matching shells, rap out bubbles, rest 20–40 minutes, and bake at 150°C for 14–16 minutes. Cool completely.
- Whisk mascarpone, cream, icing sugar, and raspberry powder to a pipeable peak; fold in optional purée and chill.
- Melt caramel sugar to amber. Off the heat whisk in warm cream, then butter and salt; cool until pipeable.
- Roll fondant into thin ropes and ring each base. Pipe cream, add caramel, sandwich, and add fondant petals with cooled water plus yellow centres.
- Refrigerate airtight for a few hours, ideally 24 hours, then serve cool.
Baker’s tips
Keep the caramel inside its fondant ring, and stop whisking the mascarpone as soon as it holds a peak.
