Marzipan

Delicious home-made vegan marzipan is the way to go! Incredibly easy using only three ingredients, plus it’s less expensive than the shop bought variety. 

To be honest, I had never been a big fan of marzipan, somehow the taste is just too intense and artificial, that is until I made my own at home. The great thing about home-made marzipan is that you know exactly what goes into it, no artificial colourings or preservatives and I do not use raw egg whites.

Marzipan is traditionally made of almonds, sugar and either egg white or a liquid sweetener. Some recipes also include almond extract and rose water to enhance the flavour. I personally like to keep it simple and just use the natural flavour of the ground almonds.

Ground almonds can be used to make both marzipan and almond paste. While they are very similar, they are slightly different in the amount of sugar used in the recipe. Marzipan contains more sugar than almonds in the recipe, which allows it to dry out over time and hold its shape. This is especially useful when making moulded figurines or miniature fruits for decoration.

Almond paste, on the other hand, contains less sugar, allowing it to remain soft and to be used with other ingredients to flavour baked goods or to make fillings.

Renowned all over the world, marzipan is used in a number of ways. In England, Christmas cake, wedding cakes and Battenberg are famous for being covered in marzipan. A German favourite is Stollen, a fruit and marzipan bread found throughout the festive season. And from Austria, Mozart chocolates are famous for their almond, nougat and marzipan centres coated with rich dark chocolate.

I use marzipan in my rhubarb marzipan cake or roll it into small balls and dip into cocoa powder or melted chocolate for a treat.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂

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RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• EASE: really easy to make.
• FREE FROM: gluten-free and dairy-free.
• GREAT FOR: covering cakes or making sweet treats.
• TASTE & TEXTURE: a sweet and nutty almond flavour with a soft texture.
• QUANTITY: this recipe makes 450g, which is enough to cover a small 24cm single layer cake.
• TIME: 5 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Ground almonds – are ideal for making marzipan. Alternatively, you can use blanched almonds or flour.

• Icing sugar – gives the marzipan its sweetness and texture.

• Liquid sweetener or water – use corn syrup, golden syrup, glycerine, rice syrup, honey or water to bring the mixture together making it malleable.

• Almond extract (optional) – adds that extra boost of natural flavour.

– Pure almond extract recommendation: Almond extract

• Rose water (optional) – can add a delicate floral flavour.

Rose water recommendation: Rose water

TIP: I highly recommend adding salt to your doughs and pastry. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bring out the best characteristics of any recipe. I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.

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SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

• Icing sugar suggestions: try alternatives such as Pure Via Baker’s icing sugar or Canderel Bake! sugar free icing sugar.

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WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

• Colouring – kneaded a little food gel into the into the dough for alternative colours.

– Food colouring recommendations: yellow, orange, blue, green, pink, red, purple food colouring gels.

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NUTRITION

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STORAGE AND FREEZING

Both marzipan and almond paste keep well if wrapped well in the fridge, for up to 5-6 weeks. Make sure to bring the marzipan to room temperature before using, it will be easier to mould and shape.

Freezing: Once prepared, this dough can be wrapped in clingfilm or placed in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is a list of some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• Measuring Spoons Set, Magnetic Stainless Steel

These measuring spoons are really handy for getting the right measurements of those small ingredients. I also like the fact that they are magnetic, sticking together and narrow to fit into spice jars.

• Rolling Pin with Removable Silicone Thickness Guide Rings, Beech Wood (40 x 3.9 cm)

I love this rolling pin, its variable guide rings make rolling out biscuit doughs, pizzas, or flat breads so much easier!

• Magimix 4200XL Compact Food Processor & Blender, 3 Bowls, 3L Capacity, Multifunctional 6 in 1

This is a really good food processor, I have used Maggie mix before, I think they are one of the best processes on the market. The blades are very sharp and I use it for breaking down biscuits, nuts and getting very smooth creams or dips. It does a really good job and its very quiet not as noisy some other brands. I recommend it to anybody who enjoys baking and cooking. They are a little on the expensive side but you pay for what you get.

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TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

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RECIPE TIPS

If you cover a cake in marzipan that you are then going to cover in icing, it is important to allow the marzipan to completely dry out, before you then cover it with icing.

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