Wondering how to bake macarons that are smooth and round? Tired of baking bumpy, irregular, lopsided macarons? Here are some tips, video and recommended tools for baking smooth and round macarons shells.
Fixing Bumpy, Irregular, Lopsided Macarons
Bumpy, irregular shaped and lopsided macarons can be fixed with a little bit of practice and using the right tools. There are several steps during the macaron making process which can affect how round and smooth your macarons are:
Sifting/grinding of almond flour:
This stage affects the bumpiness of the macaron shells. If the almond flour is not fine enough or clumpy, it will leave the top of the macaron shells bumpy and rough. The almond flour should ideally be fine, not too oily and sifted at least once.
Meringue:
This stage affects the roundness of the macaron shells as a soft meringue won’t be able to hold a nice round shape when piped.
Folding/macaronage:
This stage affects the bumpiness and roundness of the macaron. If the almond flour/sugar mixture hasn’t been fully incorporated into the meringue, this can make the shells look bumpy and also harder to pipe into nice round shapes as it won’t pipe out as one cohesive batter.
Piping/proper tool usage:
This stage affects the roundness of the macaron. After the almond flour is prepared properly and fully incorporated into the meringue, using the right piping technique and tools will help achieve a rounder macaron shell. There are several tools I include below which will help.
Resting/drying:
This last stage affects the smoothness of the macaron. At this stage, we need to make sure all the excess bubbles that may still be trapped in the shells are released.
To achieve ideal conditions for baking round and smooth macaron shells, please follow the guide below:
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How to Bake Smooth and Round Macaron Shells
Tired of baking bumpy, irregular, lopsided macarons? Here are some tips, video and recommended tools for baking smooth and round macarons shells.
Instructions
- If making own almond flour, use blanched (skinless) almonds to make it.
- Always grind almonds together with the powdered sugar to prevent it from become too buttery or gummy. Here's how to grind your own almond flour.
- Don't forget to grind store-bought almond flour too! This will remove clumps and further refine it. As stated before, do not grind almond flour by itself, grind it with some of the powdered sugar from the recipe.
- Always sift the almond/powdered mixture to aerate it and isolate large pieces. This basic strainer type works efficiently without clogging.
- Discard what can't be sifted.
- Make sure the meringue is stiff enough. If the batter is weak and too soft, it doesn't hold a nice round shape when piped.
- Use proper macaronage techniques to fully incorporate the almond/sugar mixture into the meringue. Here's more on How to Macaronage.
- Transfer batter to a good quality piping bag. It will provide more control and stop the batter from flowing out in an uneven fashion. (Ziplock bags are too flimsy and don't provide good control while piping.)
- Pipe shells onto a silicone mat for rounder shells.
- If using parchment paper, use good quality ones. If it comes in a roll, flatten it out ahead of time but placing heavy objects on top of it. Secure the paper onto the pan with magnets or some wet batter.
- Pipe batter evenly from the top down starting in the center, not on an angle.
- Pipe with an injection syringe for more control. See it being used in the video below and buy it here.
- Rap the tray hard against the counter to pop any trapped air bubbles.
- To prevent nipples/points on the batter, proper macaronage is key. If the points remain even after rapping the tray on the counter, it can be smoothed out with a wet finger but know that next time, more folding is needed.
- Use a toothpick to pop any leftover air pockets.
- Let the shells dry until they have developed a "skin". This will prevent them from cracking in the oven.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Ateco Disposable Piping Bags, 12-Inch, Pack of 100 - Cuisinart CTG-00-3MS Set of 3 Fine Mesh Stainless Steel Strainers
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Braun 4-in-1 Immersion Hand Blender, Powerful 350W Stainless Steel Stick Blender, Multi-Speed + 2-Cup Food Processor, Whisk, Beaker, Masher, Easy to Clean, Black, MultiQuick MQ537BK -
Wilton Dessert Decorator Plus Cake Decorating Tool, Cake Icing Tool -
Wilton Cookie Decorating Tool Set, 3-Piece Cookie Decorating Supplies - Regular Sized Silpat Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat
Bonus Tip for Macaron Colors that Fades After Baking
These festive red shells were made by adding a generous amount of Americolor’s “Super Red”. About 4-5 drops will do the trick. I find Americolor’s gel colouring to be very stable when baked and I don’t lose too much of the colour in the baking process. When I first started baking macarons, I often heard that you need to add a LOT more colour than you actually need because the colour will fade after baking. After baking many a batches with Americolor, I haven’t found any problems with my shells losing its colour after baking.
One of the interesting tidbits that arose in the discussion some of my IG baking friends had on one of my posts was that certain gel colour brands just don’t work as well. Another issue I can think of is that when shells get over-baked, they also tend to “lose” it’s colour because it has started to brown. So watch out for those two issues. One, you’ll need to get yourself some quality gel colours and two, you’ll need to know how to use your oven properly to bake macarons. Click the link to read that post.
I hope this post on how to bake smooth and round macaron shells have helped you. If you have any further questions, please leave them below.
XOXO,
Mimi
Note: This post was originally published on December 6th, 2015
Aishwarya says
Hi Mimi
Love your blog and I have problem when I bake my Macarons I bake them in Italian method but they come a little hollow and it’s hard to take them off the sheet….I bake them in fan setting at 150 degree Celsius for 15min….I dono if this is correct?
And another problem was my color becomes dull once baked, how to maintain that shine and gloss finish even after baking them mimi?
Mimi says
The temperature sounds good to me, however, every oven is different. Have you read my post on how to prevent hollow macarons? There’s a lot of tips and might answer your questions. I recommend using Americolor gel colors. They always bake beautifully.
xoxo,
Mimi
Stacy says
Do you have a basic shell recipe you’d suggest starting with?
Mimi says
Here’s my Best Macaron Recipe. You can start with this basic shell recipe first 🙂 XOXO, Mimi
Angela Hope says
Which brand gel (or powdered) food colours would you recommend for darker shells? Wilton is great for light colours but I tried adding a lot of Wilton red to achieve a deeper red rather than pink and my shells spread out during baking, leaving them looking like fried eggs. It was disastrous!! Delicious, but disastrous lol
Mimi says
I love Americolor 🙂 You can see this brand on my SHOP
XOXO, Mimi
Melody says
Whenever I put toppings on my macs before baking (sprinkles, a light dusting of finally ground nuts, or even just a sprinkle of cinnamon) they crack! Any of the same batch that don’t have toppings are perfect. Is there a trick to this? I put the topping on directly after rapping the sheets and popping bubbles. Tia
I should say I give them ample time to dry
Mimi says
Hi Melody,
Make sure your shells haven’t started drying after you have done your rapping and popping of bubbles. That can cause the skin to be compromised and break apart once baked. Also, make sure that you aren’t waiting for them to dry for too long after adding the sprinkles… the skin can stick onto the sprinkles too tightly and break apart with heat. XOXO, Mimi
Taylor says
I have banged my tray on the counter, and the bubbles popped, but left an indentation of a popped bubble in the top. Any ideas?
Mimi says
Your batter sounds like it has dried up a bit before you popped the bubbles. It would help if you popped it sooner after piping and if you bang your trays after to re-settle the battle. XOXO, Mimi
Jada says
smooth it out with a toothpick before you leave themout to dry befor baking
Carol Harral says
I tried to make three batches of macarons…each one spread. What did I do wrong?
Mimi says
Hi Carol,
If you look on the troubleshooting guide on the blog, it will address these issues and how to fix it. XOXO, Mimi
shea mighell says
Hey Mimi,
Can you explain why shells crack? I tried a recipe that wasn’t yours bc I don’t have a food scale yet and they didn’t include cream of tartar. Is that what it is? Maybe I didn’t deflate it well enough?
Mimi says
Hi Shea,
There are a few different reasons for cracked shells, you’ll find it here and how to fix it – Troubleshooting guide.
xoxo, Mimi
Julie says
Your colors are beautiful. What would you call “a generous amount” of color. I’m apprehensive about adding too much, but I’ve not gotten great results as you have. Thank you!
Mimi says
For my base recipe, I usually add 1-2 drops (how much exactly is 1-2 drops… that would also depend how hard you squeeze the bottle), I would even go up to 4-5 sometimes if I need it to be more vibrant. One thing to watch out for is, buy the darker colors if you’re making dark colours. Don’t try to add a ton of light colors in order to achieve a dark colour, you end up compromising the batter with too much moisture.
XOXO,
Mimi
Jessica Banks says
Mimi, what is that tool called? Thanks!
Jessica Banks says
Never mind, figured it out since it’s a link 🙂 thanks for all the good macaron advice… Much appreciated!
Mimi says
Oh yes, the link goes to the tool. I’m glad it helped you! Thanks for your note Jessica.
Mimi