Homemade Marzipan Fruits
Follow my step by step guides to making your own homemade marzipan fruits this Christmas. They’re easier to make than you might think.
Page Contents
Christmas confectionery
Marzipan fruits are a classic sweet treat that’s enjoyed around Christmas (though they can be eaten all year round of course).
I think the reason for their appeal at Christmas is because they’re a beautiful gift to give. Marzipan has been considered a luxury item for a long time because the sugar and nuts used to make it were so expensive.
It’s thought that during the Renaissance, confectioners began shaping marzipan into fruits so they have a very long history!
Today I’m sharing how I make my own marzipan fruits at Christmas time. My sister loves them so I often give them to her as a gift but I also use them to decorate my vegan Christmas Cake and vegan Tunis Cake.
With my simple step by step guide you can make marzipan fruits too! Why not get the kids involved too?
What is marzipan and is marzipan vegan?
Marzipan is a paste, roughly the same texture as playdough, which is made from ground almonds and sugar. Sometimes it is flavoured with rose water or almond extract.
Marzipan is therefore suitable for vegans!
And, because it’s soft, its perfect for shaping into little fruits and other decorations.
The art of making homemade marzipan fruits
Making marzipan fruits is a really fun way of unleashing your creative side! Here’s a quick run down of how marzipan fruits are made.
- Sculpting: The first step is to shape the marzipan into the desired fruit form. In this post I will show you how to make apples, oranges, strawberries, peaches and pears. Though, bananas and lemons are also popular fruit shapes to make
- Colouring: There are two ways that the marzipan fruits get their colour. The base colour is kneaded into the marzipan. You then paint on the details.
- Detailing: Once they are the right colours, it is time to finish with the little details like indentations, spots, stems and leaves. These little touches make them really special.
How to make homemade marzipan fruits
Homemade marzipan fruits
Equipment
- 1 small paintrbush
- toothpicks
Ingredients
- 200 g marzipan
- green gel food colouring
- orange gel food colouring
- red gel food colouring
- pink gel food colouring
- brown gel food colouring
- 8 cloves
- 1 bay leaf dried
Instructions
- Separate your marzipan out into 5 equal pieces.
To make the apples
- Dip a toothpick into your pot of green gel food colouring.
- Poke the toothpick into the marzipan to transfer the food colouring.
- Knead the marzipan until the food colouring is evenly distributed and the marzipan is a consistent shade of green.
- Separate the green marzipan into 4 balls.
- Dip a toothpick into the red gel food colouring and mix with 1 tsp of water.
- Use your paintbrush to paint a thin layer of red around the top of the apple.
- Tear the bay leaf until you have 4 small shards then poke these into the top of the apple to mimic little leaves.
To make the oranges
- Take the second large piece of marzipan.
- Dip a toothpick into the orange gel food colouring.
- Poke the toothpick into the marzipan to transfer the food colouring.
- Knead the marzipan until the food colouring is evenly distributed and the marzipan is a consistent shade of orange.
- Separate the orange marzipan into 4 balls.
- Dip your paintbrush back into the red water and paint a thin layer of red around the top of the orange.
- Poke a clove into the top of the orange to resemble the stem.
To make the strawberries
- Take the third large piece of marzipan.
- Dip a toothpick into the red food gel colouring.
- Poke the toothpick into the marzipan to transfer the food colouring.
- Knead the marzipan until the food colouring is evenly distributed and the marzipan is a consistent shade of red.
- Separate the red marzipan into 4 balls.
- Pinch the bottom of each ball gently so that one end is point then flatten the top.
- Using a toothpick, poke holes all over the strawberry to resemble its seeds.
To make the peaches
- Take the fourth large piece of marzipan.
- Dip a toothpick into the pink food gel colouring.
- Poke the toothpick into the marzipan to transfer the food colouring.
- Knead the marzipan until the food colouring is evenly distributed and the marzipan is a consistent shade of pink.
- Separate the pink marzipan into 4 balls.
- Using the blunt side of a knife, make an indentation round the centre of each ball.
- Dip a toothpick into the pink gel food colouring and mix with 1 tsp of water.
- Use your paintbrush to paint a thin layer of pink on one side of the peach.
To make the pears
- Take the fifth large piece of marzipan.
- Dip a toothpick into the green food gel colouring.
- Poke the toothpick into the marzipan to transfer the food colouring.
- Knead the marzipan until the food colouring is evenly distributed and the marzipan is a consistent shade of green.
- Separate the green marzipan into 4 balls.
- Pinch the top of each ball slightly until it resembles a pear shape.
- Dip a toothpick into the brown gel food colouring and mix with 1 tsp of water.
- Use your paintbrush to paint a thin layer of brown in spots all over each pear.
- Poke a clove into the top of the pear to resemble the stem.
Nutrition
How to store homemade marzipan fruits
If left out the fruits will become dry. Once the paint has dried transfer them to an air tight container to ensure they stay fresh.
More Christmas treats
These Christmas confections would make the perfect gift alongside the homemade marzipan fruits.
The Christmas recipe archive
For more festive recipes including drinks, starters, main courses, desserts and more, check out the Christmas recipe archive.