Almond Icing (Marzipan)

Homemade almond icing is superior to the ready-made, so I’ve included it here if you have time to make it.

A one-egg mix makes 375g, so you will probably have too much, in which case use the surplus to stuff dates or make some Stollen, see recipe below, or watch how to make it in our Online Cookery School Video, just click the image to play.

This recipe is from Delia's Cakes. Scroll to the bottom of the Method to see questions Lindsey has answered on this recipe

method
Ingredients

Method

Begin by sifting the icing sugar and caster sugar into a large bowl, then stir in the egg.

Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and fluffy. Then remove the bowl from the heat and sit the base in about 5cm of cold water. Whisk in the almond extract and brandy and continue to whisk until the mixture is cool.

At this point stir in the ground almonds and knead to form a firm paste on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Then roll out the amount needed on a clean surface dusted with icing sugar, and keep giving it quarter turns (to keep it round) between each roll. Once it is rolled to the right size, cover the top of the cake.