All you need to make this Marzipan recipe is almond flour, powdered sugar, extract, and corn syrup (or honey). You can grind your own almond flour with a food processor or buy it from the grocery store. This easy recipe makes delicious marzipan perfect for Christmas cake or decorative shapes.
Marzipan is a sweet almond paste made of ground almonds similar to fondant or modeling chocolate. It can be colored and shaped into marzipan fruit, used for marzipan cookies, or even rolled out to cover a cake. It’s commonly used in the UK, Italy, and Germany and is like a really good-tasting smooth dough. Store-bought marzipan is super fine and smooth, so people often buy it because they want an extra smooth texture.
Table of contents
Marzipan Ingredients
Blanched (peeled) almonds or finely ground almond flour are the main ingredient in homemade marzipan and will result in a smoother texture than raw (unpeeled) almonds. It’s more cost-effective to grind your own whole almonds but to save time you can buy finely ground almond flour.
Powdered sugar adds sweetness without adding grit.
Almond extract or vanilla extract is used to bring out that yummy almond flavor. Rose water is also commonly used to add flavor but it is totally optional.
Corn syrup or honey is used as a binder to hold the almond mixture together. Any liquid sweetener like simple syrup, agave, or maple syrup will work.
How to Make Homemade Marzipan
Making Almond Flour
- Use blanched almonds without the skin so that your flour is nice and pale.
- Grind your almonds in a food processor by pulsing in bursts.
- Sift your almonds through a strainer to remove any large bits of almond.
- Return the larger pieces to the food processor to grind up again.
- Repeat the process until you have enough finely ground almond flour.
Making Marzipan
- Place the almond flour and powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix until combined. You can also mix this by hand with a spatula.
- Add the corn syrup and extract and mix on low for about 1 minute until the dough starts sticking together. If it comes together when you squeeze it with your hand, it’s done mixing. If your marzipan seems dry, add another teaspoon of corn syrup and keep blending.
- Place the butter on top of the marzipan and knead it together on the counter. The butter is optional but it will help make your marzipan smooth.
- Wrap the marzipan in plastic wrap and seal it in a Ziploc bag. Refrigerate for at least an hour before forming it into shapes. Fresh marzipan keeps in the fridge for 6 weeks or freezer for 6 months or more.
How to Use Marzipan
- Tear the marzipan dough into pieces and use a modeling tool to form it into fun shapes like pears, apples, or pumpkins.
- Coloring marzipan is pretty easy as long as you use gel food coloring instead of liquid. I like to wear gloves when I’m coloring marzipan so that it doesn’t stain my hands.
- You can also dust the marzipan with edible food powder to add some realism.
- To color the marzipan dark brown, I add a bit of cocoa powder to the marzipan and then my brown food gel.
- To keep the marzipan from sticking to my hands, I put some butter on my fingertips and kneaded it through the marzipan until it wasn’t sticky anymore.
- You can cover your cakes with marzipan as an excellent alternative to fondant. Keep in mind that marzipan is not as stretchy as fondant but it tastes really good. You’ll need about two batches of this recipe to cover a three-tiered wedding cake.
FAQ
Marzipan is most commonly used for marzipan candy, for coloring and shaping into fun designs, and for covering cakes like fruit cakes. It is similar to almond paste but contains more sugar so it is sweeter. Marzipan is a sweet paste similar to fondant in that it can be shaped, colored, and used for covering cakes but fondant is more elastic and doesn’t contain any almonds.
This marzipan recipe does not have egg whites. Traditional marzipan recipes use egg whites but I prefer corn syrup or honey as the binder. The shelf life of the marzipan is longer and there is no risk of eating raw egg white. If you prefer to use egg white, replace half the corn syrup with pasteurized egg white. If you use honey keep in mind that the marzipan will have a slight honey flavor. The great thing is that this recipe can be vegan, paleo, and keto-friendly.
Although very similar (both are made with almonds and sugar) marzipan and almond paste are different. Almond paste is not very sweet and is typically not flavored. Marzipan is very fine in texture, sweeter and firmer than almond paste so it can hold its shape. The term almond paste is more commonly used as filling in pastries like frangipane tarts and bear claws.
Many marzipan recipes use raw egg whites as a binder, but this recipe uses corn syrup instead. Either recipe is safe to eat raw as long as you are not allergic to raw eggs or nuts.
Marzipan can last for 6 months in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer if you wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in a Ziploc bag or an airtight container. It will start to harden and develop bacteria if you leave it out at room temperature for too long.
Almond flour is made from blanched (peeled) almonds and has a finer texture, while almond meal is made from raw (unpeeled) almonds. You can grind your own raw almonds to make almond meal for this recipe, but your marzipan will have a slightly coarser texture.
Related Recipes
Easy Marzipan Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 ounces (142 g) fine almond flour
- 6 ounces (170 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla or rose water
- 3 ounces (85 g) corn syrup
- 1 Tablespoon butter (optional for kneading)
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
Instructions
Making Almond Flour
- Use blanched almonds without the skin so that your flour is nice and pale.
- Grind your almonds in a food processor by pulsing in bursts.
- Sift your almonds through a strainer to remove any large bits of almond.
- Return the larger pieces to the food processor to grind up again.
- Repeat the process until you have enough finely ground almond flour.
Making Marzipan
- Place the almond flour and powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix until combined. You can also mix this by hand with a spatula.
- Add the corn syrup and extract and mix on low for about 1 minute until the dough starts sticking together. If it comes together when you squeeze it with your hand, it’s done mixing. If your marzipan seems dry, add another teaspoon of corn syrup and keep blending.
- Place the butter on top of the marzipan and knead it together on the counter. The butter is optional but it will help make your marzipan smooth.
- Wrap the marzipan in plastic wrap and seal it in a Ziploc bag. Refrigerate for at least an hour before forming it into shapes. Fresh marzipan keeps in the fridge for 6 weeks or freeze for 6 months or more.
Looks very easy and somewhat redeemable using honey instead of corn syrup. SOME QUESTIONS:
– the info states this yields 14 ounces; how much marzipan does this recipe make with regard to covering a cake a la fondant style?
– since it tears easier than fondant, should marzipan always be rolled out thicker than fondant would typically be rolled?
– should it come to room temperature before attempting to roll out or best to start rolling it out fairly chilled?
As always, much appreciated!!!
If you can imagine how much about 1 pound of fondant looks like, thats about how much marzipan this makes. It does not have much stretch at all so the cake should not be very tall and the corners will be rounded. You can work with it chilled.
This recipe tastes, looks, and feels so good I highly recommended
Hi, I absolutely love this recipe it’s the best marzipan recipe I’ve ever tried. I just have one question, how do I prevent it from cracking? It worked fine when I used it as a lid for a cake – but when I tried to make figures, they started cracking. Can I do anything to prevent this?
They might be a little dry, add a bit more butter
I made this to put inside chocolate candies. It was divine inside a dark chocolate heart shell! I made one mistake, though- it seemed like 1 teaspoon of rosewater would not be enough, so I put in 3. It smelled and so strongly of roses, it was like drinking perfume! I added some almond extract to bring the almond taste back, and added more almond flour to account for the extra moisture. After sitting in the fridge overnight the flavors balanced out and it was delicious.
BTW I really appreciate that the recipe does not use eggs. My daughter is vegan, and she was able to enjoy the chocolates along with the rest of the family. (-:
This recipe worked perfect! Thank you so much, I had no idea it was so easy to make Marzipan 😀
I used this recipe and made pumpkins and vines to decorate the top of a cake. It worked great, and the cake turned out really cute. I plan to use the leftovers to make chocolate covered candies. Thank you for the recipe!
I can’t wait to try this! This Halloween I’m dressing as Professor Pomona Sprout and I’m making little flower pots of Mandrake marzipan. I hope it turns out as I think it will!
Thats a perfect idea for Marzipan!
Hello Liz,
Does golden syrup or honey work instead of corn syrup?
Thank you
Yes you could definitely use golden syrup
Just used it today. Super easy, great texture! Will definitely be my go to marzipan recipe!
Can you use any honey instead of corn syrup
yes!
Will this marzipan eventually dry and be stable at room temp? I was thinking of using it to make decorations for a gingerbread house. Do you think it would work in that application?
Hi! It will dry out somewhat, however, it’s not stable at room temperature. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.
Can you put marzipan decorations on cream cheese frosting? Thank you!
Yes you sure can
Can I substitute almonds with cashews?
Yes you can
You say keep it in the fridge for up to 6 weeks, but what happens once you have used it on a cake and then covered it in fondant icing. How long will it last at room temperature on the cake?
Longer than the cake would last 🙂 Its not going to spoil at room temperature.
Can I bake these marzipan cookies?
These are not cookies, it’s just straight marzipan.
Hi! Is it possible to replace the corn syrup with liquid glucose?
Thanks!
I think that would be ok
Not sure how the butter is to be used in this recipe. Do I melt it and incorporate it into the dough or cut it in cubes? I’m a first timer with making this.
Just knead it into the finished marzipan, it helps with the stickiness.
Hi. I found my answer on your video. Thanks 😊
Delicious!! I’ve made marzipan with three different recipes that I found online. I’m allergic to eggs, so that narrowed my choices. Your recipe is the best!! Thank you!