Go to the Article: How to Color Macarons
When using the baking temperatures and times for macaron from chefsteps, even with powdered food colouring I find the colouring lightening substantially upon baking. The macaron often seem appropriately cooked, have good feet etc. but without that rich colour we all desire. Assumedly this bleaching comes from too short a bake at too high a heat. Could you recommend an adaptation to temp/timing to prevent bleaching? Is there a temp limit for these colourings?
This lightening of the color is the nature of things. The chemical change that happens during the short bake time, affects the exterior shell by desiccating, and can only be remedied by adding more color. The powdered colors are pretty strong and we recommend Chef Rubber brand colors for macarons. You have to push 100-150°C to affect the color composition and the short low temp bake will not affect the color strength. The matte finish on the macaron comes from drying out the pellicle or shell and will affect color. Adding luster or glitter dust after baking can help to offset any color loss or brightness.
Thank you for responding. Its worth pointing out though that the baking temperatures recommended for macaron here are pretty much exclusively above that 150 C point. I will try the recommend colours though and try and bake at the very lowest temperature end. Thank you!
Oven temp, surface temp, internal temp are all different here to note.
