Homemade marzipan is delicious, and it is easy to make.
Today you’ll get 4 recipes for homemade marzipan, and tips on how to vary them almost infinitely.
You only need 3-4 ingredients – and they are vegan-friendly.
You’ll also get a simple syrup recipe so you can make your own flavoured marzipan.
You can go straight to the 4 recipes for homemade marzipan or choose one:
- Marzipan with sugar syrup
- Marzipan with honey and rose water
- Marzipan with agave syrup
- Marzipan with dates
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- Easy sugar syrup
Or you can just read the rest.
Recipe in Danish here.
In Denmark
And in Norway and Sweden – we eat marzipan all year long.
Marzipan is the main ingredient in our most festive cake – kransekage (marzipan wreath cake) – in Denmark we eat it New Year’s eve at midnight – and drink a glass of bubbles.
Marzipan is a delicious ingredient in cakes, pies, desserts like a rhubarb crumble or a blueberry tart, Napoleon’s hat, Wales buns, confections… or as a snack all year long.
And it is a classic for Christmas, New Year and Easter.
We make pigs for Christmas or mix the marzipan with nougat, chocolate or dried fruit.
Make kransekage for New Year – or other celebrations.
For Easter, we make marzipan eggs.
Marzipan is made of almonds, sugar or honey – some flavour it with rosewater, orange water or almond extract.
You can make your own favourite today.
4 recipes for homemade marzipan
The 4 recipes for homemade marzipan are similar – they all turn into some kind of marzipan, some of the recipes taste like classic marzipan and others don’t.
That’s because you get recipes with and without blanched almonds, with and without refined sugar.
If you want classic marzipan, use blanched almonds or almond flour/meal, and use a light syrup – store-bought or homemade.
Rosewater highlights the almond taste and I recommend it.
If you like honey, use light-coloured honey, to get a classic looking marzipan.
Honey is super sweet, so taste your marzipan before adding all the honey, and adjust the consistency with (rose)water.
I’ve used organic flower honey for the marzipan you see on the dark cutting board.
Do you want to make healthy marzipan?
Use dates instead of syrup – you will get dark-coloured marzipan, which of course tastes different from ordinary marzipan…
If you use baked almonds with the skin on instead of blanched almonds, then the marzipan will be darker coloured as well.
Mixing it up
Once you have the basic recipe in place, it’s time to experiment.
- What type of almonds?
- Almond flour/meal made from blanched almonds, baked whole almonds or store-bought?
- How to sweeten the marzipan?
- Honey, sugar light syrup, dates, apple syrup, Christmas syrup, elderflower syrup, maple syrup… – or another type of syrup you can make yourself or buy.
- Want to mix?
- Different types of almond flour/meal, nuts or different types of sweetener?
- Need anything else?
- see “sugar” and “other flavours” later.
Sugar and sugar syrup
If you make marzipan with sugar syrup, you can make it any flavour.
In some of the photos, you can see 5 marzipan examples.
One of them is made using rose sugar, a way to get the rose flavour without the rose water. (Rose sugar is made with rosehip petals blended with sugar)
Because I used a red rose sugar made with pink rose petals, I got a darker marzipan colour – if you use a white rose sugar you get the light marzipan colour.
I make different types of sugar. (And I only have recipes in Danish)
Some sugars are made with roses, elderflowers, lilacs, lavender, lemon, mint… and others with added colour and/or flavour.
Easy sugar syrup
The sugar syrup is easy to make:
- 70 g sugar – use regular sugar, cane sugar, rose sugar, any kind of flower sugar, mint sugar, citrus sugar…
- 70 g boiling water – or fruit juice
Mix the sugar with boiling water and stir – if you can’t dissolve the sugar, give it 30-60 seconds in a microwave oven.
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Other flavours
When you make your marzipan from scratch, you can also add liquor, extracts, colour, berries, liquorice, spices…
You can create any kind of marzipan you want – and for any season.
How about
- an elderflower marzipan as a base for a summer wreath cake?
- a silver and champagne version for New Year?
- a Christmas edition with spices or Christmas syrup?
- a raspberry marzipan?
- a rum-raisin marzipan – a Christmas special in Denmark
- …? .
Please share photos of your marzipan creations on Instagram @danish.things or #danishthings
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4 recipes for homemade marzipan
Marzipan with sugar syrup
© danishthings.com
Total: 200-220 g
Ingredients
150 g blanched almonds (almond flour/meal or whole baked almonds)
50-70 g of homemade sugar syrup * rose syrup, orange syrup, lemon syrup, ginger syrup, mint syrup… or a maple syrup
½-1 tbsp. boiled water.
Instructions
Place your almond flour/meal in a mini chopper or food processor.
Add your water and homemade sugar syrup gradually to your almond flour/meal.
Start with the smallest amount of syrup, you may not need it all. **
Pulse until the mixture is smooth and even.
Wrap your marzipan in a plastic bag, refrigerate and allow it to rest for 30-45 minutes.
Serve your marzipan as a snack – because it tastes good!
Or use it for confectionery, marzipan wreath cake, Napoleon’s hat, Wales buns, tarts or pies, desserts…
Store your marzipan in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag or an airtight container.
Recipe notes
* homemade sugar syrup – an easy recipe in the text.
** If you want a softer texture more like almond paste WITHOUT it getting too sweet – add some more water or rose water.
Marzipan will keep for at least a month in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.
Bring your marzipan to room temperature before you use it in any recipe.
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Marzipan with honey and rose water
© danishthings.com
Total: 200-210 g
Ingredients
150 g blanched almonds (almond flour/meal or whole baked almonds)
50-60 g honey – liquid not firm
2 tsp. rose water
½-1 tbsp. boiled water – or more rose water
Instructions
Place your almond flour/meal in a mini chopper or food processor.
Add your honey and rose water gradually to your almond flour/meal.
Start with the smallest amount of honey, you may not need it all. **
Pulse until the mixture is smooth and even.
Wrap your marzipan in a plastic bag, refrigerate and allow it to rest for 30-45 minutes.
Serve your marzipan as a snack – because it tastes good!
Or use it for confectionery, marzipan wreath cake, Napoleon’s hat, Wales buns, tarts or pies, desserts…
Store your marzipan in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag or an airtight container.
Recipe notes
* homemade sugar syrup – an easy recipe in the text.
** If you want a softer texture more like almond paste WITHOUT it getting too sweet – add some more water or rose water.
Marzipan will keep for at least a month in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.
Bring your marzipan to room temperature before you use it in any recipe.
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Marzipan with agave syrup
© danishthings.com
Total: 215-225 g
Ingredients
150 g blanched almonds (almond flour/meal or whole baked almonds)
65-75 g light agave syrup, light syrup, glucose syrup…
½-1 tbsp. boiled water
Instructions
Place your almond flour/meal in a mini chopper or food processor.
Add your water and agave syrup gradually to your almond flour/meal.
Start with the smallest amount of syrup, you may not need it all. *
Pulse until the mixture is smooth and even.
Wrap your marzipan in a plastic bag, refrigerate and allow it to rest for 30-45 minutes.
Serve your marzipan as a snack – because it tastes good!
Or use it for confectionery, wreath cakes, pies, desserts, Napoleon’s hat, Wales buns, tarts …
Store your marzipan in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag or an airtight container.
Recipe notes
* If you want a softer texture more like almond paste WITHOUT it getting too sweet – add some more water or rose water.
Marzipan will keep for at least a month in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.
Bring your marzipan to room temperature before you use it in any recipe.
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