Marzipan Recipe (Eggless & No-Cook)

December 7, 2016 by Freda Dias 128 Comments

Marzipan recipe with step-by-step pictures. Learn how to make this delicious, no-cook, and eggless marzipan, a much easier alternative to the traditional recipe.

Marzipan is my favorite Christmas sweet! I’m a self-confessed, marzipanaholic, Geez!! I just made up a word 😀 Well! That’s me!

So this and milk cream were the two sweets that were prepared in my household for as long as I can remember. Most of the other sweets were store bought. Mom had a busy working schedule, so we skipped making most of the sweets, except for these two.

Table of Contents

WHAT’S MARZIPAN?

Marzipan (pronounced as mah-zuh-pan) is a sweet paste made from ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites. It is often colored and used as an icing or fondant for cakes, typical in fruit cakes, wedding cakes etc. Or it is also made into a sweet/confection/candy, and sometimes coated with chocolate to make marzipan chocolate.

MARZIPAN INGREDIENTS

It is interesting to know that marzipan is made with slight variations in ingredients from one continent to another. You can read more about the history and variations on Wiki.

The one I’m sharing is basically a Goan version. The traditional Goan version includes cooking and also contains eggs. It is a laborious process and then shaping the hot dough into these pretty shapes is another task altogether.

The ingredients that go into the traditional Goan recipe are,

Cashew nuts instead of the usual almonds,
Egg whites
Sugar
Rose water or almond extract is generally used to flavor the marzipan.

Mum learnt a simpler way of making this from her friend which happens to be no-cook and egg-free. And for that recipe you just need,

Powdered cashew nuts
Confection’s/powdered/icing sugar
Almond extract
Warm sugar solution

HOW TO MAKE MARZIPAN AT HOME?

All you have to do is gather these ingredients, knead the marzipan dough and make the shapes using marzipan molds, that simple! Since this recipe contains no eggs, it is absolutely suitable for vegetarians or anyone who is allergic to eggs.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARZIPAN AND ALMOND PASTE | ALMOND PASTE VS MARZIPAN

Although Marzipan and almond paste have the same ingredients, the ratio of almonds to sugar differ in both, almond paste has lesser sugar as compared to marzipan.
Marzipan is firm whereas almond paste is softer.
Marzipan is mainly used to make candy/confection or sweets or in lieu of fondant for cakes and other baked goods, wheres almond paste, which is less sweet and slightly coarse is used as an ingredient for baked goods.

WHAT DOES MARZIPAN TASTE LIKE?

Marzipan has a firm exterior, but it is really soft within, and just melts in your mouth. It has a strong almond taste. In India, even though we use cashew nuts, it is flavored with almond extract or rose water, so you get the flavor of those depending on what you’ve used.

In short, it tastes great, it is highly addictive and most people I know would agree with me on this! I prefer cakes topped with marzipan over fondant, it tastes 100 times better than fondant. Although fondant may have its pros as compared to marzipan since it is more pliable, but if you ask me about the taste, I’d always pick the latter.

LOOKING FOR MORE TRADITIONAL GOAN CHRISTMAS SWEETS? DO CHECK THESE OUT

This is a great activity to get your kids involved in. So without further ado, let’s get to the recipe.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE EGGLESS MARZIPAN

1.Grind the cashews to a fine powder, in batches. I ground 1 cup of cashew nuts in 4 batches, by pulsing it 8-10 times. Sieve it using a sifter by pressing the powder with the back of a spoon. If you are left with larger cashew nut pieces, collect them all, and grind again further to a fine powder. {Do no skip sifting the powder, as it is essential for that smooth finish}.

2.Now mix the icing sugar with the ground cashew nuts along with few drops of almond extract, (do not add a lot as it will be too overwhelming, I added about 10 drops), and make a dough using warm sugar solution, adding little at a time.

3.Divide the dough according to the food colors you need. Make a well in the center of each portion of dough, add about 4 to 5 drops of food color. It is ok if you see some oil releasing whilst kneading the dough. It depends on the quality of cashew nuts. Do not do anything about it as will be air-dried.

4.Once your dough is ready, divide them into smaller balls and shape them using the molds. If you do not have the mold, roll them out and cut into desired shapes, or get creative and make cute shapes 🙂

Some fruit shaped marzipans, not perfect, but pretty pleased with it 😀

For marzipan fruits, use the uncolored dough, make fruit shapes, and paint with edible food color. Let them dry completely before storing in containers.

5.Transfer to a tray lined with parchment paper, let it air dry for 6-8 hours. Once it has dried up completely, transfer to an airtight container. They keep well for 2- 3 weeks at room temperature and up to a month in the refrigerator.

Last year’s marzipans:)

Marzipans made by my Mum last Christmas 2015, she sent me a pic via WhatsApp 🙂

NOTES

You can use almonds in place of cashew nuts, but you have the blanch the almonds, skin them, let them dry completely. Then powder them, finally sift and use. You can also use ready-made blanched almond powder, just make sure you remember to sift it, or else the dough will appear grainy and not smooth. Not that it alters the taste, it’s just about the appearance.
If using almond flour, skip almond extract and knead with rose water.
P.S. post updated with new pictures.

HOW TO MAKE MARZIPAN WITHOUT EGGS?