Sweet and Creamy Raspberry Powder Puffs

Raspberry Powder Puffs featuring the Bakemaster 12 Hole Macaroon Pan

I rarely make macarons so I was keen to try out the Bakemaster 12 hole macaroon pan. Bakemaster produces 2 different sized macaron tins and I’d planned to make a batch of French macarons but the holes in this particular pan were a little too large for traditional macarons. You can also use the pan to make cookies or whoopie pies, so I decided to make a batch of powder puffs - sweet little cream and jam-filled sponge cakes. You can fill the powder puffs with any kind of jam or curd you like.

The Bakemaster pan is very sturdy as it’s made from quality heavy-duty carbon steel. The cakes are baked at 210°C, but the pan is oven-safe up to 260°C. It is also dishwasher safe, even though I hand washed the pan really easily. The pan has a non-stick coating for easy release, but I still like to grease the tin before using just because I've had a few too many unmoulding disasters in the past. I’m glad I did because the powder puffs did stick a little to the edge of the tin. If you don’t have a macaroon pan you can use 2 oven trays lined with baking paper instead. Just scoop out tablespoons of the mixture onto the lined trays leaving room to spread between each cake. The baking time stays the same.

Here’s the recipe for you which makes about 12 powder puffs. The recipe is adapted from a Stephanie Alexander recipe which you can find here. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup, a 20ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20ºC.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, separated
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 50g plain flour
• 50g cornflour
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• Pinch salt
• 15g icing sugar for dusting

Filling:

• 200mls thickened cream
• 15g caster sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
• 5 raspberries, crushed (optional)
• ⅓ cup raspberry jam

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 210°C (conventional). Lightly grease the macaroon tray with butter and set aside.
2. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and whisk for another 5 minutes until the mixture forms a stiff and glossy meringue. Add the vanilla and the egg yolks one at a time and beat until just combined.
3. Place the flour, cornflour, bicarb soda, cream of tartar and salt in a bowl and sift twice before sifting for a third time into the bowl containing the meringue mixture.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue gently but thoroughly stopping as soon as it’s combined. Stop mixing at this point.
5. Drop heaped tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto the greased macaroon tray. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through until golden brown around the edges and starting to go crisp.
6. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tray with a palette knife.
7. Arrange in pairs on a cooling rack. Wipe down the pan to remove any residue before regreasing and continuing with the next batch. Allow to completely cool before filling.

Filling:

1. Whisk the cream with the sugar and vanilla bean paste until soft peaks form. Be careful not to overbeat the cream. If you like, you can fold a few crushed berries through the softly whipped cream.
2. At least 5 hours before serving, spread a teaspoon of jam onto the base of half the biscuits followed by a tablespoon of the whipped cream. Sandwich with the top biscuits and place the puffs in an airtight container in the fridge for between 4 – 24 hours, layered with baking paper.
3. The biscuits should have completely softened by this stage. Just before serving lightly dredge the top of the powder puffs with icing sugar. The powder puffs are best at room temperature.

Next Read: Best Violet Bakery Pistachio and Raspberry Friands