Marzipan or almond paste is an absolute treat. This simple, easy and effortless recipe for homemade marzipan takes 5 mins and needs no special skills or equipment. Use it in baked pastry or decorating a cake. Also, try making traditional treats like marzipan fruits or chocolate truffles for Christmas and marzipan eggs for Easter.
Have you tried marzipan or almond paste? It's so Delicious!
You are going to laugh, and yet I didn't know you could buy marzipan or almond paste. Because I grew up with marzipan always being homemade. My mom made these in buckets. She made small cute fruits with it and sell them as marzipan sweets during Christmas. I also remember she'd have to pay for extra help during Christmas time so that she could complete her orders in time.
There are two ways to make marzipan. Both use the same ingredients. And yet, you can either cook it or not cook it at all. The cooked version uses egg whites as a binding agent. While for the uncooked version I use light corn syrup or rose water.
Custom decorated cake - covering a cake with marzipan
Traditionally, marzipan has been used to cover fruit cakes with it. For example, I used marzipan to make this 77th Birthday celebration using my homemade fruitcake recipe.
Also, marzipan cakes are usually covered with royal icing or rolled fondant. I have covered this cake with my homemade fondant recipe from scratch, and yet you can use any of my other homemade fondant recipes.
Homemade almond meal (nut meal)
Almond meal or nut meals are very readily available these days and save us the time and extra effort of making them at home. And yet, an almond meal could be very quickly made at home in less than 5 minutes. Provided you have a food processor or blender. You can see the step-by-step here in my post homemade almond meal aka nut meal.
Ingredient and substitutes
- Almonds/Nuts - Marzipan is traditionally made with almonds. And yet, you can make it with any nuts.
I grew up eating cashew nut marzipan because that's what mom always made. Back home in India cashews are more affordable than almonds. So, often cashews are used in marzipan.
I also make pecan marzipan because my husband likes pecans. - Powdered sugar - Also called icing sugar or confectioners sugar. This has an anti-caking agent such as cornstarch or potato starch. Which helps combine the ingredients and make a smooth ball. You can make powdered sugar at home. And make sure you add some anti-caking agent to the mix as well.
- Extract - I love using rose extract in my marzipan, and yet traditionally almond extract is used. Vanilla works also great.
- Liquid - Traditionally beaten egg whites were used. The purpose of the fluid is mainly to bind the dry ingredients. So, sugar syrup or water works just as well. I prefer water to prevent making the marzipan too sweet.
Step by step instructions (pin)
- In a food processor - add the almond meal and powdered sugar.
- Blitz for a minute until fine and smooth in texture. (see tips)
- Transfer mixture to a bowl.
- Add the extract and 4 tbsp of light corn syrup, sugar syrup, or water.
- Mix well until all the dry mix is moist with the liquid.
- Test 1 - squish some mixture in your hand and see if the dough can be rolled lightly into a ball.
- If not, add a tablespoon of liquid - mix and test again.
- Mix until you can form a ball.
- Then knead for just 30 seconds more (see tips).
- Wrap in cling wrap and rest until ready to use.
- Marzipan must be kept wrapped at all times to prevent it from drying out.
Frequently asked questions
Marzipan covered cake may be left at room temperature for a few days. And yet, like sugar paste, marzipan can dry if left open. Hence, it's best to wrap in plastic, so it's easy to mold and use again.
It can be eaten on its own and needs nothing else with it. It is also often used to mold into fruits during festive seasons like Christmas. Marzipan Easter Eggs are a trendy treat during Easter celebrations. I love making Marzipan truffles, marzipan chocolate balls, as well as my marzipan chocolate squares to give as gifts during the holidays.
You can also add marzipan in cake batters for a marzipan cake. For example, I love using marzipan in croissants.
Marzipan and almond paste use the same ingredients. However, marzipan is smoother and can be colored and molded into different things like Easter eggs, marzipan fruits, and other shapes. Almond paste is coarse and a little less sweet. And it's often used as filling in baked products like croissants.
While they both have the same ingredients, frangipani is very different used than marzipan. Frangipani is used in baked treats, often at the bottom of a pie crust or galettes topped with fruits. Also, frangipani needs to be cooked, whereas marzipan can be used raw, eaten on its own or added into other products as an ingredient.
Same as sugar paste, it's best to use food color gels to dye marzipan. Use a small amount with a toothpick as the color will intensify later. Also, avoid kneading the paste aggressively to prevent the marzipan from getting oily. Over-kneading can cause oil from the nuts to separate making it hard to work with.
No, cooked marzipan is a different recipe. I shared the recipe with you on my other blog - Cooked Marzipan Recipe
Can I make marzipan from an almond paste?
Yes! Almond paste has the same ingredients but is less sweet than marzipan. For every pound (450 grams) of almond paste gently knead in one cup (125 grams) of marzipan. That's it.
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Description
Ingredients
- 7 oz (200 g) Ground almond/almond meal or cashew nuts
- 7 oz (200 g) Powdered sugar confectioners sugar / Icing sugar
- 4 tbsp (4 tbsp) Light corn syrup or simple syrup or water
- ¼ tsp (0.25 tsp) Almond extract
- 1 tsp (1 tsp) Vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp (⅛ tsp) Rose extract optional
Instructions
- In a food processor - add the almond meal and powdered sugar.
- Blitz for a minute until fine and smooth in texture. (see tips)
- Transfer mixture to a bowl.
- Add the extract and 4 tbsp of Light corn syrup, sugar syrup or water.
- Mix well until all the dry mix is moistened with the liquid.
- Test 1 - squish some mixture in your hand and see if the dough can be rolled lightly into a ball
- If not, add a tablespoon of liquid - mix and test again.
- Mix until you are able to form a ball.
- Then knead for just 30 seconds more (see tips).
- Wrap in cling wrap and rest until ready to use.
Recipe Notes
- Why do you pulse the almonds meal and sugar some more? We do this to ensure the almonds are fine ground powder not grainy. This makes for a much smoother paste, especially when you need to use marzipan to cover cakes or to make Easter eggs.
- Water vs. sugar syrup - Water is preferable when you are not going to keep the marzipan for an extended period, which usually is the case with me. And if you plan to make this for sale or to keep for more than ten days - I highly recommend using sugar syrup.
- Why test - It is easy to end up with too much liquid in the marzipan, resulting in a gloppy mess. So it's best to be safe and add a tablespoon at a time. And only adding enough so you can form a dough.
- Why do we knead for only 30 seconds and not more - Nuts give out oil when you squeeze the paste. While we do need the mixture to be smooth, we do not want an oily mess in our hands. We want the oils to stay in the nut paste. Since oily marzipan is very difficult to work. It's still delicious, and yet can't be molded into things quickly.
- Read my post - Marzipan 101 -Everything you need to know about Marzipan
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
