Unicorn Birthday Cake Macarons [Vegan, Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free] – One Green Planet

1. Place the chickpea brine into a small saucepan and place on the hob over a medium heat. Simmer until it reduces to about 1/3 of the original mixture. Once reduced, set aside to cool.
2. Place the chickpea brine into a mixing bowl and whizz up on high until fluffy, then add in the cream of tartar. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment but you can use a hand mixer. This will take around 5 minutes.
3. Once fluffy, add the golden caster sugar a little at a time while the mixture is still mixing on high.The mixture will turn thick and glossy. Sift and fold in the ground almonds & icing sugar. I like to use a rubber spatula.
4. Separate a small amount of batter into a separate bowl.
5. Color a large amount of batter pink and leave the small amount of batter plain white.
6. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
7. Transfer the mixtures into separate piping bags and pipe 3-4-inch round circles of the pink batter on the lined tray, then swirl the tip off to one side. Add on some vegan sprinkles.
8. With the white batter, pipe 3-4 inch round circles and add little ears and a horn (as you an see in the photo). Repeat for all of the batter, making sure to space out the macarons. Tap the tray firmly against counter 2 or 3 times to release any air bubbles.
9. ALLOW THE MACARONS TO STAND AT ROOM TEMPERATURE FOR 1 HOUR, until you can touch the top of the macarons and no batter comes off on your finger.
10. Heat the oven to 230°F. I like to bake my macarons on 2 baking trays (stacked) as this helps them get feet which macarons are known for.
11. Pop the macarons into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until they are set but not brown. You should be able to gently wiggle your finger on the top of the macaron and it not move from the feet.If it does, it needs more time!
12. Once they’ve baked, turn off the oven and leave the macarons in the oven to cool slightly (around 5 minutes). (Doing this helps to bring down the temperature of the macarons slowly so they don’t collapse in quick temperature changes.)
13. Allow them to cool fully before filling.

For the Filling:

1. In a bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter on high then add in the vanilla bean paste/extract and add in icing sugar. Add milk if it’s too thick. You want the filling to be light and fluffy so it doesn’t break the macarons.
2. Transfer the filling into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip nozzle.
3. For the center of the macarons, cut out mini circles of the funfetti cake (I use a piping tip) and set aside.
4. Once the macarons have cooled, add one of the little cakes into the middle of the macaron and pipe stars around the cake and sandwich the macaron with another macaron shell. Repeat for all of the macarons.
5. I decorated my unicorn macarons with edible marker pens, edible gold paint, and vegan sprinkles. I drew on a flower crown with pink & green edible pens and painted the horn and ears with gold paint.
6. Serve fresh or store in a sealed container in the fridge, the buttercream will firm up at room temperature. Best eaten within a few days!