Macarons with Coffee Buttercream

Let me start off by saying that I made a ridiculous cake for Christmas—a three-layer genoise cake, brushed with homemade Kahlua syrup, layered with coffee buttercream, covered in chocolate ganache, decorated with silver sprinkles and a winter scene—but that there will never be any proof of this cake because I got a new camera (thanks, Mom!), didn't take the time to learn about the photo program that came with the camera, and successfully deleted all the evidence from both my computer and camera.

But I had a lot of leftover coffee buttercream and egg whites and have the macarons to prove it:



I'm starting to feel pretty confident with macarons by now and may even invest in some bona fide almond flour rather than the almond meal I've been using that puts all those flecks in the cookies. Or I might just leave well-enough alone, because I don't really care about the flecks, but I do kind of care about the $10 difference between almond meal and almond flour—and I'm not going to go around trying to make my own almond flour again.



The buttercream was the best part of the cake anyway, from the fabulous BakeWise cookbook by Shirley O. Corriher, that tells you not only how to make recipes work, but why they work as well, and does it all in a very non-annoying, not-condescending or boring way. The book could stand to have tons more photos, though.

Coffee Buttercream
Adapted from BakeWise
Makes: a ton of buttercream, enough to frost a cake and probably a bit more

1/2 c. coffee, very roughly ground
1 3/4 c. whole milk
1/4 c. and 1 3/4 c. white sugar
8 large egg yolks
3 c. unsalted butter, softened

In a medium pot, bring the milk and coffee to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, turn off heat, let steep 10 minutes. Strain and return to pot.

Add 1/4 c. sugar to coffee-infused milk. Heat on medium until sugar is dissolved.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1 3/4 c. sugar. Whisk in 1/4 c. of the coffee-milk-sugar mixture, which is still hot.

Pour the egg yolk mixture—that is now a bit warm from the hot milk mixture you just added—slowly into the pot full of the hot milk mixture—SLOWLY, stirring CONSTANTLY because you don't want to curdle your egg yolks. Once it has all been added, turn heat to low, stirring constantly, and eventually the mixture will begin to thicken. If you get impatient, turn heat to medium and stir even more constantly, getting the edges and center of the pot.

Once the mixture can thickly coat the back of a spoon and be called a custard, strain it into a cold bowl, stainless steel if you have it. If you're in a hurry, you can put this bowl in a bigger bowl full of ice cubes and water to cool it down faster.

Once the custard is cool, you can confront those 6 sticks of butter that you have out. Put them in a large bowl and beat it until it's light and fluffy. Add the cooled custard slowly, beating it until it's light and creamy.

Use the buttercream immediately or put it in the fridge. Before using, whip it again and it will regain all fluffiness. This also freezes well.