Weekend of Food, Day 2 dinner: Ganache Macaron dessert

Wine pairing: Sauternes

This was the last course of many at our Weekend of Food French feast. Read more about it here.

France boasts many, many sweet things. From pain au chocolat to creme brulee, it’s all about stuffing your face with delicious delicacies (or is that just me…?). However, none seem quite a sophisticated as the humble macaron.

I met Ganache Macaron, a small company in London, last year at the Taste of Christmas festival. I had the pleasure of attending one of their baking classes soon after, and my palate has grown to love these little delights more and more. For the Weekend of Food, they gave us a beautiful box of assorted flavours, including two new ones from their autumn range.

After our magnificent meal of canapés, garlic soup, duck, potatoes, green beans, a cheese platter and a multitude of wine, we were getting more and more sleepy. But when the beautiful plate of macarons was put in front of us, we all sat up a little straighter. A friend had also brought some chocolate-covered almonds from Switzerland and so we had a variety of sweet bites to savour. It seems like sacrilege, but we actually cut some of the macarons in half so that all of us could taste all the flavours! Here is the verdict…

Vanilla: Due to the multitude of flavours we had been exposed to throughout the evening, the vanilla seemed a little… vanilla. It was lovely and sweet, but lacked a certain ‘wow’ effect.

Raspberry: Ganache Macaron uses not just raspberries, but also white chocolate, which fills this macaron with sweetness and balances out the fruity flavours. It felt slightly artificial, though.

Hazelnut (new): This was a favourite. Hazelnut is one of my most loved flavours in desserts, and the little chunks of nut around the shells, combined with the chocolatey filling, made this one an absolute delight.

Caramel Popcorn (new):  WE HAVE A WINNER! What an unusual flavour combination, and what a revelation. Filled with real popcorn pieces and touched with salted caramel, this is a macaron like no other. Buy it, try it, love it – it left our mouths watering.

You can find out more about Ganache Macaron and their offerings here. They have a multitude of flavours beyond those we sampled, and their bespoke creations are something else. For Halloween this year, they have managed to create an incredible Day of the Dead sculpture made entirely of macarons, which I stumbled across at the Wahaca in Central London!