These beautiful shiny Gold Macarons have a brightly colored rainbow buttercream filling. They are both nut free and gluten free.
When I was making St. Patrick's Day Macarons, I made these shiny gold luster dust painted macaron shells and filled them with rainbow buttercream. These turned out so beautiful that they shouldn't just be reserved for St. Patrick's Day!
I use certified gluten free oat flour in my macarons due to my nut allergy, so these macarons are allergy friendly. I followed my Nut Free French Macarons recipe.
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Supplies
Other than the ingredients for the macaron shells, you will need the following supplies:
- Piping bag holder. optional
- Disposable piping bags
- Medium round piping tip, such as a #12
- Plastic tip coupler, optional
- Macaron mats
- Baking sheets
- Food coloring gel in gold, red, yellow, and blue (orange and purple optional)
- Gold luster dust
- Paint palette dedicated to food
- Food grade paintbrush
- Disposable transfer pipette
- Everclear or vodka
- small silicone spatulas
- plastic wrap
- large star tip, such as a #6B
- edible gold glitter, optional
Make the Gold Macaron Shells
To make true gold macaron shells, you want to tint the meringue with gold food coloring gel.
Keep in mind that by adding the oat flour, the color will become more yellow. After the gel was added, my meringue looked like this.
By the time the batter was ready after macaronage with the oat flour, this was the final color.
They have an intense golden color before baking.
The color lightens after baking.
Starting with this color base means you will not only get a more intense gold but also you will not need as much gold powder to achieve a shiny gold finished look.
After your macaron shells have completely cooled, you can paint them with a gold luster dust suspension.
Paint the Shells Gold
Add some gold luster dust to the well of a food-dedicated paint palette.
I purchase my gold dust locally, but I have heard great things about the dust from Truly Mad Plastics.
Pour some Everclear or vodka into a small bowl.
Use a plastic transfer pipette to add a few drops of alcohol to the well with the gold dust. Stir it around with a food grade paintbrush to make the gold suspension.
You may need to add more luster dust or more alcohol depending on the consistency of the suspension.
As you use the suspension on the shells, you will need to remake more in the same well. The alcohol evaporates quickly, so if you don't use it right away, you will need to add another drop or two of alcohol to get the suspension back to the original consistency.
Dip the paintbrush into the liquid gold, and then quickly brush it across the surface and sides of the macaron shells. Paint the underneath (flat) side of the shells as well, or at least the perimeter that may not be covered with filling.
The alcohol evaporates quickly, so if you need to add another coat you can do so. These gold tinted shells shouldn't require more than one thin coat.
Sprinkle the shells with edible gold glitter for extra sparkle, if desired. I absolutely love this edible glitter and try to add it to just about everything I make now. It's hard to capture just how sparkly it is in photos.
Because the alcohol evaporates very quickly, the shells will be dry in no time.
Make and Pipe the Rainbow Buttercream
I used Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream for these, but I also regularly use Easy Vanilla Buttercream for macarons.
Divide the buttercream evenly among 6 bowls.
Color the bowls as follows: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. If you do not have orange gel, add equal parts red and yellow. If you do not have purple gel, add equal parts red and blue.
Stir completely with small silicone spatulas.
Transfer each color to a disposable piping bag. Squeeze the buttercream toward the tip and snip off an opening of about ½-inch in diameter.
Pipe lines of each color buttercream, in rainbow order, measuring about 8 inches long on a large piece of plastic wrap.
Carefully roll the buttercream together to form a log with no space in the center so all of the colors of buttercream touch. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap.
Snip off one end of the rolled plastic wrap and place the entire log into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, such as a #6B. Squeeze out some buttercream on a paper towel until all of the colors are coming out of the tip.
Pair up the macaron shells by size.
Pipe a large mound of buttercream into the center of one shell.
Lift the other shell by the edges and place it on top of the buttercream, twisting slightly as you press down. Repeat with the remaining pairs until all of the macarons have been filled.
Storage
Store the filled macarons in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Gluten Free Option
These cookies are naturally gluten free if you use a certified gluten free brand of oat flour. I like Bob's Red Mill brand of gluten free oat flour.
📖 Recipe
Gold Macarons with Rainbow Buttercream
Equipment
- Piping bag holder. optional
- disposable piping bags
- medium round piping tip, such as a #12
- Plastic tip coupler, optional
- Macaron mat
- Baking sheet
- Paint palette dedicated to food
- food grade paintbrush
- disposable transfer pipette
- small silicone spatulas
- plastic wrap
- large star tip, such as a #6B
Ingredients
For the Macaron Shells:
- 126 grams oat flour
- 126 grams powdered sugar
- 100 grams egg whites (see note)
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 90 grams granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- gold food coloring gel
- Gold luster dust
- Everclear or vodka
- edible gold glitter (optional)
For the Filling:
- Easy Vanilla Buttercream or Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream (see note)
- Food coloring gel in red, yellow, and blue (orange and purple optional)
Instructions
Make the Macaron Batter:
- Place a macaron mat on each of 2 baking sheets. You can also use parchment paper with 1-inch circles drawn on underneath. Set these aside.
- Place a large round tip, like a #12, in a disposable piping bag. Twist the bag above the piping tip and clip it closed with a small binder clip. Fold over the top of the bag and place it in a tall glass or in a piping bag holder so it will be easy to fill with the batter. Set aside.
- Sift together the oat flour and the powdered sugar in a medium-sized bowl, then whisk to combine them completely. Set this bowl aside.126 grams oat flour, 126 grams powdered sugar
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium-high until frothy.100 grams egg whites
- Add the cream of tartar, then slowly add the granulated sugar, one spoonful at a time, with the mixer still running.¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, 90 grams granulated sugar
- Add the vanilla extract and gold food coloring gel. Keep in mind that the color of the batter will deepen after the dry ingredients are incorporated. Continue to beat the mixture until the meringue forms stiff peaks. Remove the bowl from the mixer.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, gold food coloring gel
- Using a small silicone spatula, carefully fold ⅓ of the flour/powdered sugar mixture into the meringue. Then add the remaining ⅔ of the flour mixture and continue folding until you reach the figure 8 stage. See note.
Pipe and Bake the Macaron Shells
- Once the batter is the proper consistency, transfer it to the prepared piping bag.
- Pipe 1-inch circles of batter onto the first macaron mat. Slam the tray down hard on the counter or a table several times to force any air bubbles to the surface. If desired, take a toothpick and pop large bubbles then smooth out the hole left after the bubble pops.
- Pipe the batter onto the second macaron mat. You will not fill the entire mat. Repeat the process of slamming the tray and popping bubbles.
- Allow the batter to dry at room temperature for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300°F.
- Bake the macaron shells for 12-15 minutes, rotating the pan once about 7 minutes into the bake. Only bake one pan at at time.
- Allow the shells to cool completely on the mats before removing them. To remove more easily, push up on the mat from underneath to help them pop off. If you have trouble with them sticking, that may mean they are underbaked. Some of the shells in the center of the tray may have a little bit of sticking. Very carefully use a stiff metal spatula to pry them off the mat, taking care not to rip the shell.
- After your macaron shells have completely cooled, you can paint them with a gold luster dust suspension immediately or store the shells in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer to paint later.
Paint the Shells Gold
- Add some gold luster dust to the well of a food-dedicated paint palette.
- Pour some Everclear or vodka into a small bowl.
- Use a plastic transfer pipette to add a few drops of alcohol to the well with the gold dust. Stir it around with a food grade paintbrush to make the gold suspension. You may need to add more luster dust or more alcohol depending on the consistency of the suspension.
- Dip the paintbrush into the liquid gold, and then quickly brush it across the surface and sides of the macaron shells. Paint the underneath (flat) side of the shells as well, or at least the perimeter that may not be covered with filling.
- As you use the suspension on the macaron shells, you will need to remake more in the same well. The alcohol evaporates quickly, so if you don't use it right away, you will need to add another drop or two of alcohol to get the suspension back to the original consistency.
- Sprinkle the shells with edible gold glitter for extra sparkle, if desired.
- Because the alcohol evaporates very quickly, the shells will be dry quickly.
Make and Pipe the Rainbow Buttercream
- Divide the buttercream evenly among 6 bowls.
- Color the bowls as follows: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. If you do not have orange gel, add equal parts red and yellow. If you do not have purple gel, add equal parts red and blue. Stir completely with small silicone spatulas.
- Transfer each color to a disposable piping bag. Squeeze the buttercream toward the tip and snip off an opening of about ½-inch in diameter.
- Pipe lines of each color buttercream, in rainbow order, measuring about 8 inches long on a large piece of plastic wrap.
- Carefully roll the buttercream together to form a log with no space in the center so all of the colors of buttercream touch. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap.
- Snip off one end of the rolled plastic wrap and place the entire log into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, such as a #6B. Squeeze out some buttercream on a paper towel until all of the colors are coming out of the tip.
- Pair up the macaron shells by size. Pipe a large mound of buttercream into the center of one shell.
- Lift the other shell by the edges and place it on top of the buttercream, twisting slightly as you press down. Repeat with the remaining pairs until all of the macarons have been filled.
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