Marzipan Buttercream – The ultimate icing for any marzipan fans. Perfect for topping your Christmas cake or mince pies.
It’s day 4 of Festive Buttercream Week and today’s recipe is Marzipan Buttercream.
My Dad is a huge marzipan fan, so I wanted to create a recipe using one of his favourite flavours. It includes lots of real marzipan, as well as a few drops of almond extract to really bring out the flavour. It would make a fantastic alternative to using marzipan under your icing on your Christmas cake, or a little piped on top of your mince pies.
As buttercreams go this one takes a little (but only a little) more effort than some of my other recipes to ensure that the inclusion of the marzipan doesn’t leave any little lumps. To get it really smooth I beat it as usual in a mixer and then, once everything is combined, I take a few spoonfuls at a time and blitz them with a hand blender. This is actually a great little trick if you find you’ve got slightly lumpy buttercream (whatever the flavour) as a quick blitz is a brilliant way of getting your buttercream really smooth.
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Marzipan Buttercream
INGREDIENTS
- 320 g icing sugar
- 215 g butter - soft at room temperature
- 215 g marzipan
- 4 tsp cold water
- A few drops of almond extract
- A little milk
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut your marzipan (215g) into cubes and put it into a bowl. Add the water (4 tsp) and knead the marzipan into the water until most of the water has been absorbed into the marzipan (the idea here is to soften the marzipan so it's easier to beat into the buttercream).
- Cut your butter (215g) into cubes and beat with an electric mixer on a slow speed until soft.
- Add the icing sugar (320g) and beat it into the butter until fully combined. I find it best to add it a little at a time to stop it flying all over the kitchen.
- Once the butter and sugar are combined, add the softened marzipan and almond extract (a few drops) and again beat until fully combined.
- If you find you have some small lumps of marzipan then you'll need to give the buttercream a quick blitz with a hand blender. Put a few spoonfuls into a bowl, blend until smooth and then repeat until all of the buttercream has been blended.
- Check the consistency of your buttercream. If it's a little to thick to be piped then add a little milk (no more than a tsp at a time) and mix to combine. Keep adding a little more until the consistency it right.
- Your buttercream is now ready to use.
NOTES
Nutritional Information
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
This is the estimated nutritional information per serving (for the cupcake only). Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you want to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Gluten-Free
- Egg-Free
- Peanut-Free (contains almonds)
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
Monica says
My almond paste won’t mix in. Itn looks gritty and there small chunks. Help? Any ideas?
Charlotte Oates says
It sounds like it may have been too cold. Next time you could tear it into small chunks and leave it to come to room temp or try microwaving it for just a few seconds.
Cynthia Caton says
Hi Charlotte, I made half a batch of this buttercream yesterday as a trial run it was delicious. I used it on top of your mince pie cupcakes (6 cupcakes ) which are also delicious. Definitely going to make these again for Christmas
Amanda DAVIES says
Hi I am not sure if this is still an active post, I just have aa question, I would like to try and use this icing on a christmas cake how far in advance can I make the icing and decorate the cake ?
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
The buttercream will last for up to a week.
Tammi says
Made a half batch of this recipe in a Thermomix with excellent and speedy results. Used it to top cupcakes for an office baby shower. Gobbled up to rave reviews. Thank you!
Hannah says
I made this buttercream to use as a filling for matcha green tea macarons and it was excellent. I definitely recommend it.
jackie says
mine is coming out to watery what can i add or do ?
Charlotte Oates says
I’m not too sure why that would have happened. A few ideas…
Did you add all of the excess water the marzipan was soaked in? You don’t need to do that, the water is to soften the marzipan to make it easier to combine and any excess water that isn’t absorbed into the marzipan should be discarded.
How did you measure the water? You need to use measuring teaspoons rather than regular spoons as some regular teaspoons are larger so you may have added too much water.
How soft was the butter when it was added? It needed to be soft at room temperature (so it can be beaten into the icing sugar), not runny.
Emma Farrell-Frost says
I want to make my husband a birthday cake and his favourite flavour of all time in bakewell tart. Do you think this would go well on an almond cake, with maybe some of this butter cream and raspberry jam in the middle?
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve not tried it on an almond cake, but I would have thought it would go well.
Valerie says
No need for milk, this was perfectissimo !!!
I made it for a birthday cake for family and friends, French people mostly… and didn’t take the credit for it… of course I revealed it was yours !
So you can imagine with such an amazing “frangipane” type buttercream… they worship you to death now !!!
Charlotte Oates says
I’m so glad they all enjoyed it 🙂
What flavour cake did you put it on to?
Barbara says
Love marzipan so have to decide which cupcakes should go wth the buttercream!
Charlotte Oates says
We had it on vanilla and it was lovely. It would go really well as an alternative to the brandy buttercream on my mince pie cupcakes.
Barbara says
Ooh might try them both! Love choices.
Charlotte Oates says
Excellent plan!
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
I officially crown you the ‘Queen of Buttercream’! You are my go to for inspiration and recipes of unusual flavours….. I love marzipan so would love this one xx
Charlotte Oates says
I do love a bit of unusual buttercream. If you ever want to challenge me to create a new flavour let me know. I’m working on my coconut at the moment after a request on Facebook.