Marzipan Cake

Ahhh Marzipan… Marzipan by itself is delicious. I just love it when Christmas is around the corner and stores start stocking nougat filled chocolate covered Marzipan bars. Today’s recipe is an amazing Marzipan Cake. Topped with chocolate ganache and toasted pistachios.

Marzipan is a paste made out of Almonds, syrup, egg whites and powdered sugar. It is also surprisingly easy to make yourself. So if you don’t want to buy it from the local supermarket, you can try and make it at home. Taste of Home has a great recipe that explains what exactly marzipan is and how it is made. Check out the full article here

Making Marzipan Cake is not very difficult, it does however take some time. The texture of this cake is similar to shortbread. To get this texture, we bake the cake in thin layers for 7 to 8 minutes for each layer. And since the cake is around 14 layers in total, the baking time is a good couple of hours. But trust me, this cake is TOTALLY worth it.

Before we get into the baking method of Marzipan Cake, lets have a look at all the ingredients you will need.

Ingredients for Marzipan Cake

As my frequent readers will know, I like to break my cake baking into “chapters” that are easy to follow and will keep your cooking organised and stress free. So lets have a look at each of the parts required. This is in order of baking step starting with the cake batter.

Cake Batter

• 5 Eggs
• 250g Butter (at room temperature)
• 200g Sugar
• 10g Vanilla Sugar
• 150g Flour
• 2 Tbsp Rum
• 75g Finely Ground Almonds

Marzipan Layer

• 150g Raw Marzipan
• 75g Powder Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Rum

Chocolate Ganache & Topping

• 200g Dark Cooking Chocolate
• 75ml Heavy Cream
• 20G Toasted & Chopped Pistachios

How its made

Cake Batter: The first step is to prepare the cake batter, whisk the butter until light and fluffy. Now add in the sugar and vanilla sugar and whisk until light and creamy. While still whisking add the rum. Now that everything is well blended we can add the Flour. Note that we always add flour last to avoid over building gluten. This is also the reason most recipes mix wet and dry ingredients separately. Whisk in the flour until just blended and smooth. Fold in the finely ground almonds using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Preheat the oven at 190C or 375F with convection.

Prepare a baking form, this recipe works best with a 9Inch or 22cm spring form. A larger form will result in a lower cake. To avoid the cake sticking to the form, line the bottom of the springform with parchment paper and grease the sides with butter or margarine.

Scoop 2-3 Tablespoons of batter in to the cake form and spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Bake for 7-8 minutes until golden brown, take it out of the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes. Now spoon another 2-3 tablespoons of batter over the bottom layer. The bottom layer will still be warm so be quick to avoid melting the butter.

Repeat for 5-6 layers or approximately half the dough. Take out of the oven and release the spring form. Set on a cooling rack and allow to cool. Clean your springform and repeat the same process with the rest of the batter.

Marzipan Layer: To prepare the Marzipan Layer, get a small mixing bowl and add the Marzipan, Powder Sugar and Rum. Knead until well combined and smooth. Wrap in clingfilm to avoid drying and set aside. Once the two cake layers are cooled you can roll out the marzipan. Before you do, give it another good knead to make it malleable.

To work with marzipan you have to dust your working surface with powder sugar. Keep dusting as you roll out the marzipan otherwise it will get stuck and tear. Using a rolling pin, roll in to round shape. Try to get as closely as possible to the diameter of the Marzipan Cake. Trim the edges and use the cuttings to fill in any uneven holes. Now stack the remaining layer over the marzipan and align. Time to Ganache this cake 😉

Chocolate Ganache & Pistachios: Before we prepare the chocolate ganache, toast the pistachios and roughly chop them. Setup a bremarie. Add an inch and a half of water into a small to medium sized pot. Bring to a slow simmer and place a heat proof glass bowl over the pot. Make sure the water is not boiling, just lightly simmering. Place the chocolate in to the glass bowl and constantly stir to melt the chocolate.

When the chocolate has completely melted, whisk in the heavy cream. Pour over the marzipan cake and spread evenly using the back of a spoon or an angled confectionary spatula. Let cool for a little but don’t wait until it has set. Sprinkle the roughly chopped pistachios over the cake and allow to set.

Pro Tip: To get the center chimney, I used a round glass as a stencil and cut out the hole while the cake was still warm (but not hot)