Birthday Cake Macarons

These birthday cake macarons are the perfect addition to any birthday celebration! Deliciously light and flavorful, filled with birthday cake buttercream and colorful rainbow sprinkles.

It’s almost my birthday!

That means I’m all about birthday cake, sprinkles, and anything sweet.

Don’t get me wrong. I love savory food (give me a Pan Fried Ribeye ANYDAY!), but when my birthday rolls around, I want everything sweet.

Plus, calories don’t count during birthday consumption – right?

This time, I wanted full-on birthday cake flavor without all the work of an actual birthday cake, so I went the macaron route!

Making macarons is easier and can be done in about an hour!

This (perfect macaron, in my opinion) version is filled with birthday cake flavored buttercream and decorated with sprinkles to give it that entire birthday cake feel.

Plus, if you’re a cake batter lover, you’ll love the taste of these macarons!

Oh, and the macaron it’s self is gluten free just make sure you make a different filling because the cake mix in the frosting is not GF.

Ingredients for birthday cake macarons

For macarons:

• Almond flour – this is the base of our macarons. You can find almond flour in some big-name grocery stores, higher-end shops like Whole Foods, or health food stores.
• Powdered sugar – This is mixed with the almond flour to add sweetness to our cookies.
• Egg whites – The base of our meringue, it is essential that you make sure you have NO yolk that sneaks into the egg white, or it will not whip up properly.
• Cream of tartar – This helps stabilize the meringue.
• Granulated sugar – This adds sweetness to the meringue.
• Teal gel food coloring – Adds color to the macaron!
• Sprinkles – Adds a festive flair to the macarons.

For cake batter buttercream:

• Unsalted butter – The base of our buttercream frosting.
• Vanilla extract – Adds additional flavor to our filling.
• Powdered sugar – Sweetness for our buttercream.
• White cake mix – This gives our buttercream our “cake” flavor!
• Heavy cream – Helps thin out the frosting and gives it a fluffy texture.
• Pink gel food coloring – However much you want for your color choice.

Making Birthday Cake Macarons Step-by-Step Process

Step one:

In a large bowl or electric mixer, gently wipe the bowl with vinegar and let dry. You could also use lemon juice if you do not have plain vinegar. This helps ensure no residual fat or grease in bowls so the meringue sets up properly.

Step two:

Weigh your macaron ingredients and set aside so you’re ready to use when you start.

Step three:

Mix your almond flour and powdered sugar and set aside.

Step four:

In your dry mixing bowl, add egg whites and cream of tartar. Mix until the mixture looks bubbly. Slowly add in the granulated sugar while the mixer remains on medium speed. Continue mixing until the meringue is stiff and glossy peaks form.

Step five:

Once you have stiff peaks, add half of the almond flour mixture to the meringue, fold around the bowl, and go straight through the center until there are no dry spots.

Step six:

Add the remaining dry ingredients and fold until all dry ingredients are combined but not to the “molten lava” stage. See the detailed heading below on how to gauge what the “molten lava” stage looks like.

Step seven:

Mix half of your batter with teal gel food coloring and combine.

Step eight:

Prepare a large piping bag by adding the large round tip and place it in a large mug to hold it upright. Add one batter into the piping bag and pipe about 1-1/2 inch circles onto a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Repeat with the other color. 

Step nine:

Add sprinkles to the white shells and let them sit for 30-45 minutes or until a “shell” forms. You should be able to touch the tops without the batter smearing on your finger. 

Step ten:

Once the shells have set, preheat your oven to 295 degrees F. and bake for 15-16 minutes or until you can touch the tops of the shells and they do not move around on the “feet.” If you have issues with your, oven cooking things too fast or slow, make sure to invest in an oven thermometer!

Step eleven:

Remove from oven and allow macarons to cool completely on the baking sheet before trying to remove. 

Step twelve:

Make your cake batter buttercream according to the directions in the recipe card.

Step thirteen:

Add buttercream to a piping bag with a large round top. Pipe a small amount onto the teal macaron shells, then top with a white shell. Continue with the rest of the macaron shells. 

Step fourteen:

Macarons are best after they have “matured” in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours, but you can eat them immediately. Bring them up to room temperature before serving. 

Equipment needed for making macarons

Making macarons is easy but will require some kitchen equipment you may or may not have on hand. Here is a list (with affiliate links!) of a few of my favorite products.

• Kitchen scale – This makes weighing your ingredients much easier. Weighing your ingredients can result in a better baked good! You’ll notice this recipe is written in grams for the macaron.
• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Baking sheet pans
• Silpat liners – You can use plain silicone mat liners or buy one with macaron circle guides to ensure each cookie is the same size!
• Piping bags
• Round piping tip
• Teal gel food coloring
• Pink gel food coloring

What is the difference between a macaron and a macaroon?

A macaron is a delicate meringue-based cookie that is slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.

They are made with almond flour, egg whites, and sugar.

It is super light and airy and often sandwiched with buttercream, Nutella, ganache, fruit curd, or jelly. You could also drizzle the tops with dark or white chocolate!

They are often confused with macaroons, which are coconut-based cookies. Want to try a macaroon? Make my Brown Sugar Orange Macaroons or my Chocolate Chunk Macaroons.

Difference between the French method and the Italian method of macarons

While both variations make delicious macarons, it depends on how the meringue is made. I find the French version to be easier to make.

The French version starts with whipping uncooked egg whites with granulated sugar and folding in an almond flour mix.

For the Italian version, you heat granulated sugar with water to create syrup. You then drizzle the hot syrup into the uncooked egg whites while beating with an electric stand mixer.

Both versions create a delicious cookie with only a few small differences in texture.

Italian macarons are more stable than French macarons and are often used in bakeries since they are less fragile.

Tips for folding macaron batter

The biggest thing to watch while making French-style macarons is folding the macaron batter.

It is one of those things that you need to be careful about and not become overly eager to continue folding.

Tip One

Stop folding the macaron batter when you reach the molten lava stage.

The first time I heard that, I was super confused. But after I explain what you’re looking for, you’ll see why this stage was given its “lava” based name.

You are looking for a thick batter that moves slowly when you pull a spatula through. It should resemble what you see when you see flowing molten lava.

Trust me, it makes sense when you see it batter form.

Tip Two

Not sure when your macaron batter is ready?

Pick up the batter on your spatula and draw a figure 8 into the mixing bowl.

The batter should not break off and flow solidly back into the batter. If it does not flow solidly, gently mix for a few more minutes, checking every minute until you reach the desired texture.

Storing birthday cake macarons

If you don’t eat all your birthday cake macarons in one sitting, you can store them in an airtight container in your refrigerator and eaten within three days.

Freezing macarons

You can easily freeze your macarons, but don’t fill your cookie sandwiches.

Lay the macarons flat onto parchment paper in an air-tight container and freeze for up to 1 month.

When you’re ready to fill your macarons, take them out of the freezer, let them defrost for about an hour, and then fill them with the desired filling.

Why you should use gel food coloring for macarons

For these macarons, I used Wilton Gel food coloring in teal, and for the cake batter buttercream, I used pink gel food coloring.

The gel colors are super simple to use and create less mess. Plus, they are more pigmented than liquid food coloring.

However, THE BIGGEST REASON you should use gel food coloring is that it contains less moisture than traditional food coloring and will not ruin the batter with excess moisture.

You can find gel food coloring on websites like Amazon or baking or craft stores.

What is birthday cake buttercream?

This buttercream frosting is my LEGIT favorite!

It’s a typical vanilla buttercream with a store-bought cake mix in the batter!

It creates such a delicious “cake batter” flavor that I want to eat it straight from the mixing bowl.

More macaron recipes

• Pumpkin Spice Macarons
• Easter Egg Macarons
• Vanilla Macarons

More delicious dessert recipes

• Chocolate Strawberry Funfetti Hot Chocolate Bombs
• Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries
• Espresso Dark Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting
• Vanilla Bean Lemon Sugar Cookies
• Easy Whipped Chocolate Frosting

Check out my Google web story for these easy birthday cake macarons!