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If you are looking for a creative alternative to a tiered cake, try making a macaron cake.

The entire cake is made of macarons!  Instead of slicing into the cake, everyone gets to pick a macaron to enjoy.  It’s perfect for any celebration.  I recently made one for a wedding that served as the groom’s cake.

Supplies you need for a macaron cake:

Styrofoam Cake Rounds:  To make this cake, I used two different size styrofoam cake rounds-one 8 x 5” round for the base and one 4 x 4” round for the top.

Tulle:  The styrofoam gets wrapped in tulle for a more finished look.

Skewers and Toothpicks:  Skewers are used to hold the two rounds together.  Toothpicks are placed around the sides of the “cake” and the macarons are slid in place.

Macarons:  To make this size cake, you will need about 145 macarons: 90 for the bottom tier, 50 for the top tier, and 5 as decorations on top.  It’s important that the macarons are fairly consist in size and thickness.  If you need a foolproof recipe-check out my Perfect Macarons!

How to make the Macaron Cake

Wrap the two styrofoam cake rounds in tulle.  Start by wrapping the side edge a few times, then twist the tulle and cover the top and bottom.  Pull the tulle taut as you go around to conform to the shape and to hold down the loose edges.  Once you’ve covered enough, be sure that the end is on the bottom of the round.

Stack the two rounds together and stick three skewers through the center to hold everything together.  Be sure it’s centered.

Starting with the bottom layer, set one macaron against the cake.  Make a small hole with an awl and place a toothpick into the styrofoam to align with the filling.  With the macaron still resting on the table, slide it into place on the toothpick.  The cake will be more stable if the toothpicks go into the filling versus the shells!

Continue with the next macaron, working your way around.  Be sure that each cookie is snug against the previous and the cake form.  When you get to the next row, offset the first macaron (so it sits perfectly centered above two macarons).  This will give the final cake a beautiful spiral appearance.

I choose to have all white chocolate on the bottom section and lemon on the top, but have fun mixing and matching!  You could create a spiral pattern by alternating colors!

Decorating the Cake

Once the cake is complete, decorate the top with a few additional macarons, flowers, or any other theme decoration.  Lemons were a big part of this wedding, so I added a few slices and some leaves for a finishing touch.

As your guests enjoy the macarons, the cookies easily slide off the toothpicks.  Because the rounds are wrapped in the tulle, the cake still looks nice throughout the event!

A macaron cake is a showstopper that everyone will want to try!