If you look forward to springtime when Cadbury Creme Eggs hit the shelves, these Easter macarons will make your taste buds sing! Rich chocolate macarons filled with a simple vanilla bean buttercream and a surprise dollop of custard transform the classic candy into a springtime pastry. For help piping same-sized macaron shells, use the printable egg macaron template included below.
Hide the finished macarons tucked in large plastic eggs for the kids' Easter egg hunt. Or for the Easter Bunny in a secret hiding spot. Just don't forget which one like I often do!
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🗞The Story
The quintessential Easter candy truly needs no introduction. The chocolate eggs that crack open to an ooey-gooey sweet filling that mimics an egg white and yolk are addicting at best. And loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and artificial colors. The US-made Cadbury Creme Egg contains more sugar than its British counterpart, surprise, surprise (sarcasm).
Edible Times until you read the ingredient list.
To blend my love of both the candy and notorious French treat, I reincarnated the Cadbury Creme Egg into a macaron. Scratch-made from better ingredients, these Easter macarons are a fun project for springtime.
🧾 The Ingredients
To create Cadbury Creme Egg macarons you need three elements: chocolate macaron shells, vanilla buttercream, and custard (or yellow-tinted buttercream). While it might seem like an overwhelming amount of ingredients to work, many are pantry staples that repeat throughout all of the components.
If you want to skip making the custard, you can certainly mix yellow food coloring into a small portion of the vanilla buttercream for the "yolk". But the egg-yolk heavy custard filling is creamy, silky, and entirely worth it, in my opinion!
- large eggs
- confectioner's sugar
- granulated sugar
- blanched almonds or fine-ground almond flour
- cornstarch
- cocoa powder
- semi-sweet baking chocolate or chocolate chips (can also use dark chocolate)
- heavy whipping cream
- unsalted butter
- vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste, or whole vanilla bean
- kosher salt
- yellow food coloring, optional
🥣 Equipment
Delicious desserts and crave-worthy dinners don't depend on new and expensive equipment. A sharp knife, a stable cutting board, and a couple of reliable pots and pans are all you need. But for French macarons including this Cadbury egg ditty, I do recommend a couple of choice pieces of equipment.
Specifically a reliable electric mixer, even a simple hand mixer, a digital scale, and an oven thermometer. Most home ovens are telling tall tales about their true temperature. An inexpensive oven thermometer reveals their deceit and eliminates macsplosions during baking.
- large bowl
- digital kitchen scale
- sifter or mesh sieve/strainer
- whisk, electric hand, or stand mixer
- flexible spatula
- parchment paper (not wax paper) or silicone baking mats
- baking pans
- pastry bag or large plastic food storage baggie ( a reusable or disposable pastry bag is easier to work with than a baggie)
- small round pastry tip (less than $1 at most craft stores like Michael's or Joann's)
Printable Macaron Templates
While you can certainly pipe macaron batter freehand, tracing circles or shapes onto your parchment paper ensures easy matching of the baked macaron shells. Free, printable macaron templates can eliminate this tedious step.
I keep all my free printable French macaron templates in one virtual spot for ease of use! Sign up for my free five-part email series, French Macarons: Simplified, to get notified when a new template is hot off the presses.
Piping Egg Shapes
You can certainly pipe egg-shaped macarons in a variety of ways. Many bakers like to use toothpicks to correct inconsistencies. I try to avoid toothpicks in an effort to keep the process simple. A little practice goes a long way when it comes to piping macarons. The more you pipe, bake and eat, the better your technique becomes!
🔪 The Method
French macarons - Cadbury Creme Egg-style or otherwise - may not be a simple and quick baking endeavor. But beautiful, delicious results are 100% attainable for the home baker. Chef's promise. Success relies on properly whipping a meringue, and mixing the macaron batter to the correct consistency.
Piping the batter does take a bit of practice, but a slightly misshapen macaron tastes just as scrumptious as one that's perfectly round. If this is your first time baking French macarons, classic round shells are the easiest to pipe.
🍫 Chocolate Macaron Batter
- If using whole or slivered almonds, grind the nuts with confectioner's sugar in a food processor until finely ground.
- Combine the egg whites and granulated sugar in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whip on high speed to a firm meringue, for five to seven minutes. A firm meringue will be shiny and form peaks that curve ever so slightly off the beater.
- Sift the ground almond mixture, or almond flour and confectioner's sugar with the cocoa powder directly into the bowl of whipped meringue.
- Fold until the batter flows slowly and ribbons off the spatula. Mix firmly at first, then use classic folding strokes; scraping around the sides of the bowl, then up from underneath the mixture, and over through the top.
Piping + Baking Chocolate Macarons
- Transfer your macaron batter to a piping bag (or large plastic bag) fitted with a small, round quarter- or half-inch tip.
- Then pipe the batter onto parchment-lined baking pans with two free printable egg macaron templates placed underneath. Hold the piping bag vertical, and about a quarter-inch above the pan. Begin at the narrow end of each printed egg, and move slowly down making quick, side-to-side motions that gradually get bigger to fill the space. When you reach and fill the largest part of the egg, stop squeezing and quickly flick your pastry bag away in a circular motion.
- To help the tops of the piped batter settle, very lightly tap the pan on the counter. Or with one hand, tap the underside of the pan a few times gently.
- Optional: Let the piped macaron batter rest on the counter for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Bake around 300° F for 14-17 minutes, until the macarons are set, but before the shells begin to brown. Rotate the pans once halfway through baking. Macarons are done when the tops don't wiggle away from the bottoms when very lightly pushed.
- Gently remove cooled shells from the mat or parchment by pushing up from underneath the liner to release the bottoms. If the macarons resist and break, more time in the oven (is) was needed. I often bake a test batch of just two or three shells before baking off the rest. It's a great way to gauge your oven and be able to make adjustments instead of just baking the entire batch with fingers crossed saying the Hail Mary.
The Filling
Because I enjoy playing with my food, I've created Cadbury Creme Egg macarons for Easter in a variety of ways. With simply vanilla buttercream, with buttercream and custard, and with buttercream, custard, and chocolate ganache. One, or all three fillings are delicious and cute as a bunny's tail for Easter and springtime.
To exactly replicate the Cadbury Creme Egg, first pipe a border of vanilla buttercream on half of the chocolate macaron shells, leaving space between the filling and the edges of the macaron. Next, fill the space inside the buttercream border with custard. For the ultimate Easter macaron, first, pipe a border of chocolate ganache. Then inside the ganache alternate with buttercream on either end and custard in the middle.
Storage
French macaron lore calls for "maturing" finished macarons in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving. I rarely wait that long before delivering to clients or devouring myself at home. But there is a truth to it. Especially if you slightly overbake the meringues to the point of crunchiness, a little time in the refrigerator with the filling will help soften the macarons.
Always enjoy French macarons at room temperature.
More Easter + Spring Macaron Ideas
Creme egg macarons are no small baking project. Here are a few (slightly) less involved Easter macaron ideas, and links to the recipes. Use the egg-shaped template above to create an adorable, festive Easter macaron display!
🍋 Lemon Macarons
Bright yellow screams spring, sunshine, and daisies! Pipe this lemon macaron batter using the above egg template and sandwich the shells with tart lemon curd or Limoncello-spiked buttercream. Or both!
🍓 Strawberry Macarons
French macarons are so pretty in pink! For strawberry macarons perfect for spring, fill the shells with vanilla buttercream and a secret surprise of strawberry jam in the center.
🍊 Orange Creamsicle Macarons
A crowd-pleaser in a macaron if I've ever met one. I often don't tint my macarons for the purpose of avoiding artificial coloring. But for a pastel orange creamsicle macaron, add a quarter to a half teaspoon of orange food coloring gel. The mascarpone cheese in the filling makes these simply scrumptious and loaded with nostalgia!
👩🏻🍳 Edible Epilogue
Decorating the tops of finished egg-shaped macarons can be a fun activity for kids. A thick but squeezable royal icing of pasteurized egg whites whisked with powdered sugar works great. Decorate unfilled shells and allow the icing to dry before sandwiching the macarons with filling.
I often double the batter recipe below for twice the number of finished macarons. Because especially with anything Cadbury Creme Egg, I don't like to share. 😉
📖 Recipe
Cadbury Creme Egg Macarons
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: About 20 egg macarons 1x
- Category: Macarons
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Absolutely scrumptious Easter macarons! For Cadbury Creme Egg-style French macarons, take chocolate macaron shells and fill the meringues with buttercream and a rich, creamy, golden custard. To skip the custard, simply tint about a third of the buttercream with yellow food coloring until you achieve a deep gold. For the ultimate creme egg macaron, fill chocolate shells with buttercream, custard, and chocolate ganache!
Pipe the macaron batter into egg shapes or simple, traditional rounds using my free printable macaron templates.
Ingredients
Egg Yolk Custard
- 5 large egg yolks (about 2.25 ounces)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (about 2.5 ounces)
- ⅓ cup heavy cream (about 2.5 ounces)
- 1½ teaspoons cornstarch (plus a small amount of water to make a slurry or paste)
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
American Vanilla Buttercream
- 2 ounces/½ stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1-2 cups confectioner’s sugar (around 4 oz)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract, or the seeds from one vanilla bean pod
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
Chocolate Ganache
- 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
- 2 ounces/slightly more than ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- Pinch of salt
Chocolate Macaron Shells
- 180 grams of confectioner's sugar
- 95 grams of fine-ground almond flour (or blanched, slivered almonds)
- 10 grams of cocoa powder, any kind
- 3 large egg whites (about 90g)
- 55 grams of granulated sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon of cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Custard
- In a small bowl, add drops of water to the cornstarch until you can stir it together to make a slurry (thick but pourable liquid).
- Combine heavy cream and half the sugar in a small pot. Stir together egg yolks and the remaining half of sugar in a heat-proof bowl.
- Bring heavy cream mixture just to a boil, then slowly drizzle into the egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly.
- Once heavy cream is incorporated into egg yolks, whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
- Pour the custard mixture back into the pot, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until bubbles break the surface.
- Strain into a clean bowl, and press plastic wrap on the top to cool.
- Chill a couple of hours to set.
- Transfer the custard to a small piping bag or plastic baggie fitted with a small round tip, or simply snip the end to create a quarter-inch opening.
- Store leftover custard in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.
For Chocolate Ganache
- Place the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl.
- Bring the heavy cream just to a boil in a small pot and pour it immediately over the chocolate. Let the hot mixture sit for five minutes.
- Whisk the cream and the softened chocolate together until smooth.
- Cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the cooled ganache to a small piping bag or plastic baggie fitted with a small round tip, or simply snip the end to create a quarter-inch opening.
- Store surplus chocolate ganache in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.
For Vanilla Buttercream
- With a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the butter on high speed for about three minutes, until it is light in color and doubles in volume.
- In small increments to prevent a powdered sugar fog, beat in the confectioner's sugar (use more or less depending on how sweet you prefer buttercream). Beat the buttercream until it is light and smooth, scraping the bowl with a spatula as you go.
- Beat in a pinch of salt, your chosen vanilla, and the heavy cream.
- Transfer the buttercream to a small pastry bag or plastic baggie fitted with a quarter-inch or smaller round tip, or simply snip a tiny opening with scissors. You can always make the opening bigger, so start small.
- Store extra buttercream in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before using, and beat brielfy to restore a smooth texture.
For Cadbury Creme Egg Macarons
- Line two baking pans with parchment or silicone baking mats. Place printable egg macaron templates underneath. Preheat the oven to 300° F. Use an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is reaching the proper temperature. A too hot or underheated oven will cause issues with macaron appearance.
- If using almonds, grind the nuts with confectioner's sugar in a food processor until finely ground. If using almond flour, sift the almond flour with the confectioner's sugar onto a piece of parchment paper or into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Combine the egg whites and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer).
- Whip on high speed to a firm meringue, the meringue will be shiny and form peaks that curve slightly off the beater.
- Sift the ground almond mixture with the cocoa powder directly into the bowl of whipped meringue.
- Fold until the batter flows slowly and ribbons off the spatula. Mix firmly at first, then use classic folding strokes; scraping around the sides of the bowl, then up from underneath the mixture, and over through the top. The batter will be thick and take 15 to 20 seconds to settle back into itself when drizzled off of the spatula.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag (or large plastic bag) fitted with a small round tip.
- Pipe the batter onto the parchment-lined baking pans with the egg template underneath as aguide. Hold the piping bag vertical, and about a quarter-inch above the pan. Begin at the narrow end of each printed egg, and move slowly toward the wide end making quick, side-to-side motions that gradually get bigger. When you reach and fill the largest part of the egg, stop squeezing and quickly flick your pastry bag away in a circular motion.
- To help the tops of piped batter settle, very lightly tap the pan on the counter. Or with one hand, tap the underside of the pan a few times gently in a few places.
- Optional: Let the piped macarons rest on the counter for 10-20 minutes.
- Bake 300° F for 12-15 minutes. Rotate the pans once halfway through baking. Macarons are done when the frilly feet have formed and the tops don't wiggle away from the bottoms when very lightly pushed. If macarons brown before they are set, turn down the oven by five or ten degrees and bake longer.
- Cool for a few minutes before removing macarons from the parchment paper or silicone mat. Gently remove the shells from the mat or parchment by pushing up from underneath the liner to release the bottoms. If the macarons resist and break when you try to peel them off the parchment or mat, more time in the oven was needed.
- Take half of the macaron shells and pipe a perimeter of the vanilla buttercream slightly in from the edge. Pipe a dollop of the custard filling in the middle, and top with another egg macaron. For extra rich Cadbury egg macarons, pipe a perimeter of chocolate ganache first, then inside the ganache alternate with dollops of buttercream on the top and bottom, and custard in the middle. Avoid piping the filling too close to the edges of the shells, so it doesn't ooze out when bitten into. No matter how you arrange the fillings, the macarons will be absolutely sinful!
- Store French macarons chilled for 24 hours before serving. The shells and fillings will soften slightly and the flavors will mature. But only if you can wait that long!
Keywords: easter macarons, Cadbury creme egg macarons, spring macaron flavors, cadbury mini eggs
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