{BWB} The Art of A Perfect Macaroon feat. Lauren of Lipglossed Ninja

I mentioned in Friday’s post about how much I love baking.  Saturday’s BWB (Bloggers Who Bless) meet was held at the African Pride Hotel (15 on Orange) in Cape Town and it was by FAR the best meet we have had – it was a Macaroon Workshop (or as I like to call it, being taught the art of a perfect macaroon). The lovely folks over at the African Pride Hotel invited us over to come and experience the joy of making your very own Macaroons.  For those of you that don’t know what a macaroon is, Wikipedia explains it as:
A type of small circular cake, typically made from ground almonds or coconut (and/or other nuts or even potato), with sugar and egg white.  Macaroons are often baked on edible rice paper placed on a baking tray.

I am embarrassed to admit that before Saturday, I had never had a proper macaroon and I can absolutely say that I will definitely have them again.  I am not sure however, if they will come out of my own kitchen.
They were absolutely fun to make, especially in the company of some great woman.  The recipe is simple enough but it does take some skill and some insane arm muscles to mix it all together and then do all the piping.

I am not sure if you have ever been to the African Pride Hotel at 15 on Orange before, this was my first time and the place is gorgeous.  When you walk through the main doors you get greeted by the concierge who automatically showed us where to go in order to reach the workshop.  When we (I mention we because Lisa-Jade & myself drove together and then found Leana parking her car at the same time as us and then we found Jen looking a little frantic since she couldn’t find the meeting room).  Eventually we made it into the meeting room which was set up beautifully and full of some lovely ladies I am lucky enough to call friends.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun I had and if you have never baked a macaroon yourself then you should definitely give it a try.  An even better option would be for you to get a group together and arrange for a macaroon workshop all of your own.  I believe that they do the workshops for groups of 12 or more and the rate is R295 per person (don’t quote me on that amount though).

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Heather who arranged the workshop as well as to EC Sanel & Chef Retha for enduring our constant photography, comments, cheering, boos and my occasional swearing.

Lipglossed Ninja