Here's a little more information about marzipan which we didn't want to clog up the category home page with...
Marzipan is often called almond paste and is a blend of ground almonds and natural sugars, although occasionally other nuts such as pistacchios are used. The almonds are first boiled to remove the skins, crushed and mixed with sugar and glucose to form a manageable paste. The proportion of sugar to almonds is one of the main characteristics in determining a marzipan's grade but a very high almond content is normally only used for pure confectionery, such as chocolate-covered marzipan.
Marzipan must have a certain proportion of nut content before it can be legally called "marzipan", which is why so many supermarket so-called marzipans are actually labelled as "almond flavoured cake pastes". Real marzipan has a gorgeous texture, a relatively mild flavour and can be coloured using concentrated paste colourings.
Both Californian and Spanish almonds are used for marzipan production in the UK. Spanish almonds tend to have a milder flavour and are normally blended with Californian almonds for the best flavour.
Marzipan prices are vulnerable to dramatic fluctuations in almond and sugar values on the international commodites market. Following Hurricane Katrina, for example, when much of the US almond crop was ruined, marzipan more than doubled in price before that Christmas as the more expensive Spanish almonds shot up in value (simple "supply and demand"). We source our marzipan direct from the nut millers; we order in large volume and at points when the international almond price is competitive, which all helps to minimise any seasonal price increases. We are confident our marzipan prices are among the vest best in the UK.
Cake-stuff.com recommends Renshaw (holders of the royal warrant) Rencol Marzipan and White Continental Almond Paste. These are professional quality almond marzipans with a natural, or "white" colour without the gold colouring added to cheap supermarket marzipans.
For busier cake makers, cake-stuff.com also recommends our own Premium Natural Marzipan - produced by Renshaw but labelled as own-brand marzipan. This marzipan is available in 2.5kg (5.5lb) and 5kg (11lb) trade packs only, but offers great quality and fantastic value for money.
BBE date will be at least 3-6 months from date of purchase and normally much, much longer. If a long BBE date is crucial, please contact us in advance of ordering and, stock permitting, we will do our best to oblige.
As obvious as it seems, we are legally obliged to state that marzipan is a nut product and is unsuitable for anyone with a nut allergy or intolerance. Marzipan is suitable for vegetarians.
Marzipan has traditionally been more appreciated as a confection in its own right on continental Europe where it used for luxury chocolates and cakes, and is even used in place of sugarpaste in some countries, such as on this Swedish wedding cake.
As you browse pack sizes, please be sure you are purchasing the correct product as we cannot accept the return of marzipan for food safety reasons. This does not affect your statutory rights.
Please click here for more details of our Food Safety Policy.
How much marzipan will you need to cover your cake? Please click here to see our cake covering guide.
Colour using concentrated paste colours to avoid changing consistency of marzipan. Click here to see our range of professional paste colours.
Marzipan can also be coloured very effectively using powder and dust colours. Click here to see our range of professional powder and dust colours.
Marzipan is an ancient foodstuff and traces of it dating back thousands of years have been found in ancient Egypt, Iraq (Babyolinan empire) and India.
Shipping Summary: Orders to all UK addresses up to 1.5kg are normally shipped by Royal Mail 2nd / 1st class post. Orders to UK mainland addresses between 1.5kg and 20kg are normally shipped by APC Carriers at a fixed rate of only £5.95. Orders to UK non-mainland addresses over 1.5kg (Northern Ireland, Scottish Islands, Isle of Man, Channel Islands and BFPO addresses) are shipped by Royal Mail Standard Parcels.
V E R Y I M P O R T A N T S H I P P I N G I N F O R M A T I O N . . . marzipan cannot be shipped outside the UK (except to BFPO addresses) under any circumstances for a reason you may be surprised about . . . modern commercial explosives have no real smell of their own, so a scent is added to help detect explosives. The internationally adopted scent just happens to be "almond". Sniffer dogs and some electronic detectors (eg at airports) will identify marzipan as suspected explosives. We hope the rest is obvious . . . there is simply no way we can attempt to ship marzipan outside the UK.
