Macaron Crazy - Our Top Tips

The Inspired Occasion just can't believe how crazy people are over our Macarons. They are by far the most popular baked items on our edible list and make a great addition to any function.  Not only do they taste amazing but we can also colour match to any theme.

Its hard to believe that 4 simple ingredients can create something this mouth-watering, and believe me it’s very difficult to  just stop at one

• Almond Meal
• Egg Whites
• Iccing Sugar
• Caster Sugar

Although Macarons use only 4 ingredients they are certainly not a quick whip together recipe, they require total concentration without distraction!!  Because of this we tend to bake our macarons at night when we are less likely to be distracted by the pitter patter of little feet  

Because of their popularity you will find lots of new products on the market to help you make perfect macarons, from special baking trays, silicone mats, powdered egg whites and ground almond meal.   However we have found that just sticking to the basics and using a few everyday appliances such a a mix master, fine sieve, piping bag, spatular and metal bowls you too can create beautiful mouth-watering macarons without unnecessary expense.

Without giving away all of our trade secrets here are a few of our top tips to help you achieve amazing home baked macarons:

Top 10 tips from The Inspired Occasion

• Always use old egg that are at room temperature
• Never try to make macarons on a hot or humid day
• Process, Process, Process your almond meal and icing sugar through the blender prior to sieving
• We use a teaspoon of egg white powder in our egg white to aid in stability
• Wipe you electricmixer out with some salt to make sure it is clean and dry for best egg whites
• Lower temperature oven is better than higher we recommend 150degrees
• Macarons hate heat and humidity, if in doubt we always put the air conditioner on.
• Macarons get better with age, wait 24hour once assembled before you eat for best results
• Use good quality chocolate and essence for your fillings
• Once you start you can't stop so make sure you have some time to yourself without distraction.

With vibrant colour like these it’s no wonder they are the trend on many of our dessert/candy stations at the moment, with the ability to colour and flavour match they can be  beautifully presents in Glass Jars, on Decorative Platter or Cake Stands to enhance any social function

With our most popular macaron varieties being:

• Raspberry
• Peppermint
• White Chocolate
• Caramel
• Dark Chocolate Ganache

However we are getting more and more request for citrus, nut, coffee and liquor flavoured macarons. So if you have a favourite flavour we are able to create a mouthful of mouth watering macaron.

The Inspired Occasion

The Perfect Bonbonnaire - Macaron Box's

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of making 150 macaron bonbonniere for a beautiful bride. Each guests received two macarons in a clear box finished with a satin ribbon.

With the bridesmaids dressed in lilac and the floral centre pieces also incorporating lilac and green the bride choose the following velvety macaron varieties

• Peppermint White Chocolate
• Smooth Caramel
• White Chocolate Ganache

We took those cheeky shots before the bride collected, in additional to the 150 we also made another 70 Macarons in a latte colour for her to place around the base of a 3 tier wedding cake. 

We are patiently waiting for our bride to return from her honeymoon to send us some photos from the reception with the macaron boxes on the place settings and the latte macarons around the wedding cake.

With Macaron so in vogue at the moment we think that this is a unique take home gift for any occasion, whether it be a wedding, baby shower, christening or birthday. With the flexibility to colour match and flavour match your imagination can run wild with the combinations of colours and flavours we can create.  Our basic Macaron prices start at $2.20 per macaron.

Stay tuned because later in the week our top 10 tips of macaron baking!!

The Inspired Occasion

Back to school! - A school themed baby shower

Again its that time of year again. Starting tomorrow morning 7am it's back to alarm clocks, packed lunches, uniforms, homework, drop off's and pick ups.  It's with mixed emotions.... great that routine and structure will commence again and of course more uninterrupted time to manage our upcoming functions will be a blessing, but unsettling also, as we can't believe how fast they are growing up and our youngest little boy is off to pre-prep so there is sure to be tears (from mum...) when he steps into his new class room!!

Anyway -  to celebrate the return to school, We thought we'd re-share this school themed baby shower that we featured last year and with so many new followers on board we are sure it will be well received!!

This baby shower was put together by Whitney at Whitney Smith Photography for her friend, who is a primary school teacher.

It is filled with all sorts of cute details; blackboards, cookies and milk, lunch bags, apples for the teacher, school books and a gorgeous personalised baby shower book. All the guests left notes for the baby in here, along with a list of gifts and other mementos.

Another adorable feature was prepared by the mum-to-be's class. They all wrote down pieces of advice on parenting for her - maybe not overly helpful, but certainly amusing!

Enjoy!

And stay reading as next week we will be featuring another baby shower that we managed recently, think sage green, lemon, white and birdcages!!

Till then - The Inspired Occasion

The Inspired Occasion - We Love Dessert Stations

In 2011 we had the opportunity to create some truly special dessert stations, table seatings and drink stations for our clients.

We are always excited to work with new clients and bring their ideas alive, whether its working with your favourite colour palette, a character, a story book or a concept we can work within your budget to create an amazing eye catching event paying particular attention to the details!!

The Inspired Occasion offers a unique service that customises all our dessert stations and party styling in-house from the baking, to the art and craft, entertainment, photography, venue hire, furniture hire, staffing requirements and catering.  We are a one stop shop for all your event requirements.

Our team of experienced event managers can articulate the latest trends and themes onto a story board that will bring WOW factor to a party. Bellow is a small snippet of our favourite dessert stations which went from story board concept to an actual event.

Whether you are looking to theme children's, adults, social, community or corporate events we can take your ideas and add our imagination....

The Inspired Occasion are looking forward to bringing you some of our 2012 events soon!!

The Inspired Occasion

Private Screening - Young Adult staring Charlize Theron

When was the last time you and a friend were invited to a free night out with the chance to win some great prizes? Can’t remember?  Well neither could I,  but all that changed when The Inspired Occasion received an invitation from Time Out Magazine Melbourne to a special screening of the movie Young Adult staring Charlize Theron at Kino. 

It just goes to show that I need to get out more, because I thought my guest and I would just roll up, take our seats, watch the movie and come home.  How wrong was I ? On arrival we were warmly greeted by a member of the Time Out team and thanked for attending (hmm think we should have been doing the thanking).  Once in the cinema you couldn’t help but notice that every seat had a gift bag placed on it. Being the woman I am I couldn’t wait to explore the contents which included a current copy of Time Out Magazine and lots of free and two for one promotional offers from well-known stores located in just about every suburb of Melbourne. Don’t you just hate getting offers for businesses that are miles away from where you live ? I know I do.

By now we are settled in our seats with goodie bags securely stowed waiting for the movie to start when a charming young lady makes her way to the front of the screen and gives us a quick (very quick) overview on what Time Out is all about and invites those people in the audience who are guests to sign up to their email newsletter so that they too can be invited to free events and receive informative information on what‘s happening on the Melbourne food, entertainment and arts scenes.  But wait there’s more! We are asked to look under our seats because 8 lucky people are going to win the following prizes night for two at Crown Towers in a Deluxe room, 2 x $200 bar vouchers at The Vic Bar, 2 x Vouchers, champagne, cocktails, dinner and a show at Red Bennies (worth $250 each) and 3 x 6mth subscriptions to Time Out Melbourne.  Unfortunately neither I nor my guest was a winner ( maybe next time).

Ok so now you want to know about the movie.  Recently divorced writer Mavis, returns to her small home town, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter.  This is a good lightweight movie that shows off the unique ability of Ms Theron to play anything from drama to comedy and isn’t afraid to do either with or without makeup.  I give this move 7/10.

So what are you waiting for, just click the link below to make sure you don’t miss out on being invited to the next free Time Out event.  See you there!

http://www.au.timeout.com/melbourne/newsletter

The Inspired Occasion