How To Make Marzipan from Almond Paste

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 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 with “bitter” almonds, which have the distinctive marzipan flavor.
• Corn Syrup – Gives the marzipan a supple texture. You can use an equal amount of sugar syrup cooked to the softball stage (248°F) in place of corn syrup.
• Confectioner’s Sugar – Confectioner sugar adds body to the almond paste mixture. Add less sugar for a softer marzipan, like you’d use to cover a cake. Use more sugar for molding marzipan into fruits, flowers or decorative pieces.

What’s the Difference Between Almond Paste and Marzipan?

• Almond paste is darker in color and has a coarse texture. Homemade marzipan is lighter in color, is sweeter and has a smooth texture.
• Almond paste is mostly used as an ingredient (for example in Bear claws) and marzipan is generally used for finishing and decorating pastries.

Process Photos

Here’s what the recipe process looks like at each stage. Refer to the recipe card below for measurements and exact instructions.

• Combine almond paste with corn syrup and mix until it becomes a smooth paste.
• Add confectioner sugar and mix until it becomes crumbly. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish kneading in the sugar by hand. The more sugar you add, the stiffer the marzipan will be. Adjust the texture according to how you will use the marzipan.

How to Store Marzipan

If you are using marzipan within a couple of days, wrap it tightly and keep it at room temperature.

For longer term storage it’s best to double wrap the marzipan in plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying out. I also put the double wrapped packet into a storage container with a tight fitting lid or a heavy storage bag. This extra layer will not only keep the marzipan from drying out, it will prevent it from picking up off odors.

Marzipan wrapped this way will keep about 6 months in the refrigerator or up to a year in the freezer.

Can I Make Marzipan Using Almond Flour?

Technically, yes. But regular almond flour does not have the aromatic flavor from bitter almonds. Even if you add some almond extract the real problem is one of texture. My preference is for almond paste, and especially marzipan, to be a very smooth paste without any noticeable grit from ground almonds. You can’t really achieve as smooth a texture using home equipment as you get with commercial almond paste.

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.