Pink Swiss Buttercream

Make a Swiss meringue by combining the egg white and sugar in a bowl over a water bath. Beat lightly with a wire whisk until the sugar dissolves and no granules can be felt when rubbing the mixture between two fingers. Transfer the mixture to a clean, dry bowl, being careful that no water from the steam of the water bath gets in. Beat with a mixer on high speed until the mixture increases in volume and thickens. Reduce the speed and keep beating until it cools and reaches room temperature. Flavor with the rose water. Then, while beating constantly, add the butter in 3-4 additions. Continue beating until the mixture thickens further and becomes uniform and fluffy.

If after adding the butter the cream splits, the most likely cause is the temperature difference between the Swiss meringue and the butter. The meringue was still warm and the butter cold. In that case the two products cannot combine to uniformity and the water separates from the fat. This produces splitting, which can be fixed by balancing the temperature differences. Do this by gently warming the bowl with the split cream over a water bath until the butter visibly starts to soften. Then remove the bowl from the water bath and beat the mixture again with a mixer until smooth. If it still doesn't become smooth, return it for a little more time over the water bath. When the mixture becomes uniform, leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes or 6-7 minutes in the fridge to cool. Beat the cream with a mixer until it thickens and becomes fluffy.

Assembly: For more precise application, put the cream in a piping bag with a straight round tip. I used Wilton tip No. 10. Take a macaron shell. On the reverse of its face side, pipe a small amount of the cream. Cover with a second macaron shell.

Decoration: liquid glucose, pink sugar fragments. With a thin brush take a small amount of glucose and apply it in the middle of the assembled macaron. Stick the pink sugar fragments onto the glucose.

Violet French macarons: The recipe and the making of the shells are the same as for the pink macarons, with the difference that violet food coloring is used instead of pink. Don't forget that the color must be saturated, since it will lighten after baking. The main difference between the pink and violet macarons is the cream. Since I wanted it to taste of violets, the easiest and quickest way I found was to use "Violet" candies. For this I had to dissolve the candies in liquid, but the cream also had to be firm enough not to moisten the macarons too quickly. I settled on a Bavarian cream, in which the milk took on a violet flavor and the gelatin helped it set quickly between the macaron shells. Even so, this cream did moisten the shells faster compared to the Swiss buttercream, so it is advisable to sandwich the macarons no more than one day in advance.