Birthday Cake Macarons

I love baking birthday cake desserts that aren’t cake, like birthday cake cookies or birthday cake brownies. These birthday cake macarons are a delicious treat for a birthday party or any other special occasion, especially for people who don’t like regular funfetti birthday cake!

Clear vanilla extract: I tested these birthday cake macarons with boxed cake mix in the filling and found it annoying to have that on hand. Instead, I used clear vanilla extract and almond extract, which gives them the same flavor.

Superfine almond flour: Look for brands that are super-fine blanched almond meal like Bob’s Red Mill or Kirkland, for the best results.

Rainbow sprinkles: You can use any kind of rainbow sprinkle like rainbow nonpareils or jimmy sprinkles.

Egg whites: Fresh, separated egg whites are recommended for best results. You do not need to use room-temperature egg whites because they will get cooked over a double boiler.

Powdered sugar: This sugar is finer than granulated sugar, making it perfect for macaron shells.

Full ingredient measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card below!

Make the Macaron Batter

Step 1: Sift the dry ingredients. Sift the almond meal and powdered sugar into a bowl and set it aside (image 1 below). If your almond meal is coarsely ground, you can pulse it in a food processor until finely ground.

Step 2: Cook the egg whites. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the powdered sugar and egg whites together. Place the bowl over a small pot of water and whisk occasionally, until the egg whites reach 120 F/48 C (image 2 below).

Step 3: Make the meringue. Add the cream of tartar. Whisk on low speed for 5 minutes, until the bowl feels cool. Continue whisking, increasing to medium speed, but not going faster than #6 on a KitchenAid, until soft peaks form.

Then add the pink food coloring. Keep mixing until stiff peaks form (image 3 below).

Step 4: Fold in the dry ingredients. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the bowl of meringue. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold them into the meringue (image 4 above).

Step 5: Scrape the batter. Fold and scrape the batter against the sides of the bowl then back into the center (image 5 below). This is known as the macaronage. 

Step 6: Test the batter. When the batter starts to look glossy, pick up the batter with the spatula and let it fall into the bowl. It should flow in slow ribbons. Set a timer for 30 seconds. If the edges of the fallen ribbons are very soft and mostly disappeared into the batter, it’s ready (image 6 below).

Bake and Assemble

Step 7: Pipe the macaron batter. Pipe the batter with a large piping bag onto the prepared baking trays into 1 1/2-inch circles, spaced 2 inches apart. Tap the tray gently on a flat surface, then pop any large bubbles with a toothpick (image 7 above). 

Step 8: Bake! Sprinkle the tops with rainbow sprinkles (image 8 above). Keep the rest of the batter in the bag for now.

Bake the first tray right away on the middle rack of the oven for 18-20 minutes. When the first tray is done baking, pipe the rest of the batter and bake the same way. 

Step 9: Cool, then fill with buttercream. Once completely cool, match up like-sized shells. Pipe a dollop of the buttercream in the center of each half, then sandwich it with the other shell (image 9 above). Mature the macarons overnight in the fridge. Enjoy your birthday cake macarons!