What is almond paste vs. marzipan vs. frangipane? All have ground almonds and sugar at their core but with very different baking applications.
After posting a video on how to make almond paste with 4 ingredients, I received tons of questions about the difference between almond paste and marzipan. And frangipane, for that matter! So let’s clear things up!
What’s the difference between almond paste and marzipan?
What is marzipan?
Marzipan is a confection made from skinned almonds (almond flour), sugar or powdered sugar, and sometimes egg whites, glucose or corn syrup. It’s typically pale with a pliable, smooth texture like Play Doh. More importantly, it has a higher ratio of sugar.
I found both marzipan and almond paste by the Danish brand, Odense, in my local grocery store. In the photo above, you can see that on the marzipan box (left), sugar is the first ingredient with a 28% almond content. (This is not necessarily the average almond content of all marzipan–it can vary widely in the United States!)
Marzipan is ready to eat and is often used to make candy or cake decorations. You’ll often see it rolled out to top cakes (like princess cake). Or the pliable texture makes it perfect for sculpting into marzipan fruits or animal-shaped candies vibrant with food coloring.
What is almond paste?
Meanwhile, almond paste has a higher ratio of almonds. You can see in the Odense photo above that the almond paste (right) has almonds as the first ingredient with a 45% almond content. It’s generally less sweet, can be a little coarser and softer than marzipan, and is typically used as a baking ingredient. You can make homemade almond paste with either skinned (almond flour) or non-skinned (almond meal) almonds!
Almond paste often serves as the base ingredient to make marzipan or frangipane. But it can also be used as a filling in a variety of pastries like cookies, cakes, tarts or candy.
Can you substitute substitute marzipan for almond paste?
Marzipan cannot be substituted 1:1 for almond paste because it’s far thicker and sweeter. In a pinch, you may be able to adjust the recipe to use less sugar and incorporate the marzipan in place of almond paste, but it’s generally not a straightforward process.
I also wouldn’t recommend subbing almond paste for marzipan in a 1:1 ratio. However, you can make homemade marzipan from almond paste by adding corn syrup and powdered sugar or icing sugar, egg whites and almond extract. Some add rose water or orange water (I don’t prefer these added flavors, but it’s a personal preference).
What is frangipane?
Frangipane is simply an almond pastry cream that contains almonds, sugar, eggs, butter and sometimes a small amount of flour. The almond filling is even lighter and more spreadable than almond paste with a loose, creamy consistency. While storebought versions of almond paste and marzipan are available, frangipane is usually made at home.
Like marzipan, you can easily make frangipane from almond paste. Adding basic ingredients like eggs and butter to almond paste is an easy way to turn storebought or homemade almond paste into frangipane. Frangipane is used in baked goods, so you don’t need to worry about adding raw egg–it’ll get baked off in the final product.
I use my 4-ingredient almond paste and add an egg and 3 tablespoons of butter to make a frangipane filling for almond croissants.
How to make almond paste
I use Ela Vegan‘s ratio to make almond paste in a food processor:
- scantcupalmond flour (90g)
- 9tbsppowdered sugar (70g)
- 1.5tbspwater (20ml)
- 1/2tspalmond extract
For the full instructions, I outline the process in the almond scone recipe.
Try a different nut! You can riff on this ratio with other nuts–I’ve tried pistachio with great results! I think hazelnuts or pecans would also be great. You can follow the same process of adding an egg and butter to turn any nut paste into a frangipane-like mixture to make pistachio croissants, hazelnut fruit tarts, etc!
Recipe inspiration with marzipan, frangipane and almond paste
Now that you understand the difference between all these different almond confections, here are a few recipes to try with each of the components! The fairly neutral but nutty flavor of marzipan or frangipane pairs really well with fresh fruit or chocolate.
Recipes with almond paste:
- Almond paste scones
- Almond horn cookies (almond paste + dark chocolate is a match made in heaven!)
- Amaretti cookies
Frangipane recipes:
- Apple frangipane tart
- Almond croissants
- Bostock
- Apricot pistachio squares (this is one of my favorite recipes that essentially uses a pistachio frangipane)
- Fruit tarts
Marzipan recipes:
- Battenberg cake!
- Princess cake!
- Pistachio petit four cake (I made this cake for my dad’s birthday one year and it was incredible! It would be especially amazing if you make this with pistachio marzipan.)
