Gold and green

The traditional colour central to all Chinese weddings is red. From the invitation, to tablecloths, to the bride's dress, everything is red, representing love and happiness. Equally important in Chinese culture is prosperity which is represented by gold. Put red and gold together you have the obligatory Chinese wedding colour scheme. Personally, I do not think I have ever owned a red dress (I'm shy) and instead wore a ivory and gold cheong sam during my wedding reception.


For the unconventional Chinese bride who loves French pastry and citrus, lemon macarons with lemon curd and a sprinkle of edible gold dust were perfect. Although I have seen red macarons before in Paris which would have looked spectacular with a splash of gold dust, an unpleasant amount of artificial colouring is required to achieve an intense red that does not appear pink. As you may guess, I am not a big fan of red velvet cake either (sorry!).


As a nice pairing to the lemon macarons, there were also green tea macarons with white chocolate coconut ganache filling which received a light silver lustre. The flavours were very complementary and appealed to the Asian palate. Matcha powder is becoming easier to find in stores these days and gives a lovely earthy green hue to the final product; however, it does have a strong flavour which can be overpowering and if you use too much like I did in a pastry cream once, you end up with something that resembles algae!