For quite some time now I’ve been anxious to try baking macarons. I heard many warnings about their difficulty, but when I found out that there are pans and kits that make the process easier, I was determined to take on the challenge. This post focuses on the Lékué Macaron Kit, which can be found online at http://www.lekue.be. As soon as I received the kit in the mail, I was eager to try it out! Read about my Lekue Macaron Kit Review below.
When you open the box, you’re faced with tons of delicious looking macarons! I’m getting a craving already and I haven’t even started baking yet!
This is what the product looks like inside the box! It all fits neatly inside and is convenient for storing the product when it’s not in use without taking up too much space.
The box contains three pieces: the silicone macaron baking mat, the Decomax (a tool for piping icing and batter), and a booklet containing recipes and instructions.
The pan itself is made of silicone and has circles with raised edges imprinted onto its surface. These circles act as guides for piping your macarons onto the pan so that they are all the same size. You can technically put the pan straight into the oven, however, I think it’s a better idea to place it on a baking tray for several reasons. First of all, in order to eliminate air bubbles inside the macaron shells and prevent them from cracking, you should bang your tray on the counter several times before baking. This is nearly impossible to do without a tray. In addition, you don’t want to overcook your macarons, so using both a tray and the mat will prevent the macarons from being exposed to too much heat from the bottom, and will allow them to cook evenly.
The pan does not need to be greased before baking. The macarons slid right off the pan, for the most part. As you can see from the picture below, a few of my macarons were just slightly undercooked, and a small trace of the shells remained stuck to the pan. However, when cooked adequately, the pan seemed to work well and the macarons came off nicely.
The other tool that the kit comes with, the Decomax, is extremely versatile. Instead of transferring your macaron batter into a piping bag, you can use the Decomax to pipe the shells onto the pan. Because it has such a large opening, it is really easy to fill up and doesn’t make a mess. This also makes it really easy to clean. It comes with 6 different tips and can be used for decorating as well. Take a look at the Decomax filled with delicious lemon buttercream icing, which I filled my macarons with.
I think it’s a handy tool that can be used for baking other things as well. For example, just last week I made cupcakes and I used it to transfer my batter into the cupcake tray. It made things so much faster and cleaner, because normally I struggle with spooning the batter into the tray one scoop at a time.
The downside to the Decomax is that it is made of soft silicone on one side, but the lid is made of hard plastic. This is fine when you’re first starting out, but when your batter begins to run low, it becomes increasingly difficult to get the remainder out. At the same time, however, it’s easy to stick a spoon or a spatula inside and remove the remaining batter or icing.
And now, the moment you’ve all be waiting for – it’s time to reveal my finished macarons!
The Lékué Macaron Kit helped me make macarons that looked and tasted delicious on my second attempt! Why not my first attempt? Well, that’s a whole different story that involved a combination of various factors. You can read about this experience in My Macaron Fail blog entry.
Overall, I really enjoyed the Lékué Macaron Kit and I think it’s an extremely handy tool, especially for first time macaron bakers. It helps make the process so much easier and more convenient. I’m looking forward to using it as I experiment with all sorts of new macaron flavours!
For more information about the product, be sure to watch my Lekue Macaron Kit Review on YouTube! Check out the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel!
