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Making macarons into shapes other than a circle can be tricky but a good beginner design is a flower! With April coming to a close brings “May Flowers” and Mother’s Day, too! To share the macaron love, I have two 5 petal flower designs available for free download. Please get them to use in your own baking. Below I’ll also share some of my piping tips for this template (download them here).
If you haven’t made any macarons before you may want to start with the basic round shape template. Here is my basic advice for piping as well, with more details on piping 5 petal flower macarons next.
Each page of my template is designed to pair with a second copy so you can fit two slightly overlapped sheets onto one standard “half sheet” sheet tray. Make sure to print two for a full sheet. You could also laminate the sheets to be able to reuse them and wipe them down in case anything spills on them.
Why Two design versions for the Free Flower Macaron Piping Template
The first design with the thinner petals is great for sweet little flowers. I find that because they have less total surface area they pair better when matched together (and not ontop of a circle). Whereas, the wider petal version can be matched with a circle base (or another flower shell) and the filling will not be as visible. It does come down to personal preference and what kind (if any) packaging you need to do for your macarons.
The wider petal flower should fit in all standard macaron packaging, including the more secure individual cavity style clamshell plastic containers. Printed at 100% the design is a bit under 1.7inches in diameter.
Find both of the flower templates, free to download in the shop!
Piping Tips for the Flower Macaron Piping Template
…See what I did there? Tips like advice but also tips like metal cones? Sorry, I couldn’t help it.
When piping out flowers from macaron batter following these templates, the thinner petals work well with a size 12 Wilton tip. You may be able to work with a 1A Wilton tip for the wide petals, but a 12 or even a 10 Wilton tip would be good. (If you use a 10 or an 8 Wilton tip, you can modify your wide flower template to pipe sakura or cherry blossoms, swoon).
Start the petals from the outside going in. Apply pressure to your bag to build up height on the outer petal then release pressure and draw the batter towards the center to break the stream and star piping again on a non-concurrent petal.
Leaving space between the petals (aka skipping one) and doing two petals for each flower on your whole tray first allows the first petals to slightly dry so when you pipe ones next to it they can retain some of their definition and individuality.
Here’s a quick video to see another view of what I mean about piping out these flowers.
Macaron Batter Consistency for Piping Shapes
When making something other than the basic round shape for a macaron you need a slightly less “macaronaged” batter. Stopping short of “lava flow” or “ribbon” will let you get more definition for your design.
Even thicker batter can do even more cool dimensional things but that’s for another post. 😉
To Tap or Not to Tap
When it comes to making shaped macarons I tend to not tap or “slam” my trays down. I find popping any noticeable air bubbles with a scribe or toothpick (or my fancy long scribes) to do the trick to avoid volcanoes.
But it might be personal preference. If my batter isn’t quite moving where I want it I will rap the underside to vibrate the batter and smooth it out.
Finishing Touches for Your Flower Macarons
To finish off your 5 petal flower macarons think about using small nonpareils as stamen, or piping an extra dollop (and adding more resting/drying time), or coloring painted edible dusts, or edible markers.
Things you can add before you bake are nonpareils to a tacky batter, sprinkles, edible glitter or coloring your batter before you pipe.
Decorating treatments you can do after include painting with food color, food gels, dusts, dry dusting, edible marker designs, royal icing or candy melt designs.
If package size isn’t an issue you could make a candy melt, chocolate or royal icing leaf to add to your flower macarons!
I’d love to see the macarons (or maybe royal icing transfers?!) you pipe with these templates! Please tag me in at @rose_macarons on instagram or on Facebook!
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