How To Make Marzipan from Almond Paste
Marzipan is very expensive to buy in the grocery store, and is often dry and flavorless. This marzipan recipe is super easy. I’ll show you how to make marzipan that is much cheaper than pre-made, and tastes much better.
If you live in the US and you’ve bought marzipan in the grocery store, chances are you were sorely disappointed. Pre-made marzipan is expensive and is usually dry and tasteless.
I always make my own marzipan recipe from almond paste. Marzipan is a fairly luxurious ingredient but is very easy to make. You’ll need just 3 ingredients and it comes together in mere minutes.
Ingredients
- Almond Paste – Almond paste is made from “bitter” almonds, which have the distinctive marzipan flavor.
- Corn Syrup – Gives the marzipan a supple texture.
- Confectioner’s Sugar – Add less sugar for a softer marzipan like you’d use to cover a cake. Use more sugar for molding marzipan into fruits or flowers.
How to make Marzipan from almond paste:
- Combine almond paste with corn syrup to start making your own marzipan.
- Almond paste is darker in color and has a rough texture. Homemade marzipan is lighter in color, is sweeter and has a smooth texture
- Add enough sugar to make the marzipan as soft or firm as you need.
How to use Marzipan
Homemade Marzipan has a million and one uses.
- Cover Christmas fruitcakes with marzipan before finishing them with fondant. The marzipan creates an extra layer to keep the cake moist, plus it tastes much better than fondant. When making marzipan to cover cakes use the lower amount of sugar in the recipe. With less sugar the homemade marzipan is very soft and has a strong almond paste flavor, perfect for a cake covering.
- Marzipan can be used as a candy filling. Add orange zest to the marzipan and a little extra sugar to make it a little firmer. Cut the flavored marzipan it into small squares, cover the squares in tempered chocolate and you’ve got a fantastic little bon bon.
- Use homemade marzipan to make tasty and pretty decorative pieces. Add enough sugar and the marzipan becomes firm enough to make rose petals or holly leaves and berries.
- You can mold life-like pieces of fruit from marzipan, hand color them with powdered food coloring and create a show-stopping centerpiece that is delicious.
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Marzipan Recipe
Ingredients
- 7 oz Almond Paste (see note)
- 2 oz light corn syrup (1/4 cup)
- 8 oz confectioner’s sugar (approximately)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix 7 oz Almond Paste and 2 oz light corn syrup on low speed until it forms a smooth paste. If working by hand use a wooden spoon to mix until combined.
- Scrape the bowl. With the mixer running on low speed add 1/2 of the confectioner's sugar. If mixing by hand stir half the sugar. Turn the dough out onto a surface generously sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. Knead the remaining sugar into the marzipan. Continue adding additional powdered sugar to achieve the desired consistency (see note).
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What size cake will this recipe cover? Thank you!
HI Christina. This recipe should make enough to cover an 8″ cake (2-3″ tall cake). Of course it will depend how thick you like to roll the marzipan. What type of cake are you making?
Do you let the marzipan out to dry if you’re making deviations out of it or store it in a container?
Leave it out to dry if making decorations, sorry autocorrect
Hi Lindsey, Yes, If I’m making decorations I leave them out to dry.
Hi, there is “light” corn syrup and “dark” corn syrup at store, which one should I use for this recipe? Thank you!!
Oh, Sorry. Light Corn syrup. I should have specified. I’ll edit the recipe. Thanks for the question, Caro.
Hi Eileen,
If i can’t find the almond paste in the grocery store, can i make my own? And if so, is there any recipe which I can use as a guide?
By the way, the roses and decorations are pretty!
Hi Juliet! To make true almond paste at home would be impossible. Almond paste is not made from regular almonds that you buy at the store. It’s made from “bitter almonds”. Bitter almonds have that “marzipan” flavor. Also, getting the paste completely smooth with no gritty bits of almonds can’t really be done in a food processor. Commerical almond paste is made with rollers that completely crush the nuts. I have ground my own almonds and added almond extract to make a version of almond paste used as a pastry filling. But you want marzipan to be super smooth for most uses. Almond paste can be bought on-line. Is that an option for you?
Hi Eileen. Thanks for this informative piece. I’ve never used marzipan, but i have a customer who wants fruit cake (christmas cake) for her birthday cake. Do you know if buttercream would work the same way as marzipan, before i cover the entire cake with fondant?
Marcia.
Hi Marcia. I guess there’s no reason you couldn’t ice a fruitcake with buttercream. When I make Christmas fruitcakes I coat the cake with apricot preserves, then with a layer of marzipan and then finally with a layer of fondant or royal icing. That’s the more traditional way to finish the cake. For many fruitcake lovers (me included) one of the best parts of a fruitcake is the marzipan. Also, if she plans to save the cake (fruitcake can keep for months if cared for properly) then I wouldn’t use buttercream since it will go bad.