How to Make Marzipan Fruits
How to make marzipan fruits: apples, pears, oranges
It’s not too difficult to make your own marzipan fruits for decorating cakes or just for eating. I used mine on this gorgeous apple cake with cream cheese frosting. Whatever cake you use them on (carrot cake perhaps?) they are a gorgeous addition.
Marzipan is an almond paste that is readily available in grocery stores near the cake decorating supplies. Odense is a common brand and it’s sold in 7 ounce tubes. The recipe below for making marzipan apples, pears and oranges was developed using one package of that size. You’ll get 18 fruits of about 1 inch size, which should be enough to decorate any cake.
In my updated “How to make marzipan fruits” video, I also show how to make bananas, lemons and red apples!
Making Marzipan Fruits Video
Make Marzipan Fruit – Printable Instructions
PrintMake Marzipan Fruits
- Yield: 18 1x
Ingredients
- 1 7 ounce package marzipan (Tested with Odese brand)
- Red, yellow, green liquid food coloring
- water
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar or cornstarch
- whole cloves
- caraway seeds
- Tools:
- small paint brush
- small bowls (4)
- paper towels or clean rags
- apron
- parchment paper or waxed paper
- fine hole grater
Instructions
- Divide the marzipan into 3 equal pieces (2.3 ounces each). Cover your work surface with a large sheet or parchment or wax paper to protect from staining. Put on an apron or an old shirt to protect clothes from splatter. Place powdered sugar in a small pile in the corner of work surface.
- Make your dyes:
- Green – combine 1 teaspoon water + 1/4 teaspoon green food coloring
- Yellow – combine 2 teaspoons water + 1/4 teaspoon yellow food coloring
- Orange – combine 1 teaspoon water + 6 drops yellow + 2 drops red coloring
- Red – combine 1 teaspoon water + 1 drop red coloring
- Marzipan Apples:
- Knead 1/8 teaspoon green dye solution into 1 portion marzipan until evenly colored light green. Shape into a tube and cut into 6 equal portions. Roll each into a ball, then shape into slightly elongated and squared-off Granny Smith apple shapes, or slightly flattened balls to make MacIntosh apples. Press a whole clove into the top of each to make a stem.
- Dip paintbrush in clean water, then in yellow dye solution. Paint apples to give them a ripening hue. Dip brush again in water, then in red solution and add a bit of blush to one side of each apple. Set aside apples to dry on paper.
- Marzipan Pears:
- Knead 1/8 teaspoon yellow solution into 1 portion of marzipan until a uniform light yellow color is achieved. Roll into a log and cut into 6 equal portions. Shape each into a teardrop shape, flattening the bottom slightly and bending some of the tops a little. Press a caraway seed upright into the tops to make a stem.
- Wet your brush with clean water and lightly go over one long side of each pear with yellow dye. While still wet, dab on a bit of red and allow to naturally spread out along the fat end of each pear. Set aside pears to dry.
- Marzipan Oranges:
- Knead 1/8 teaspoon orange dye into remaining portion of marzipan until uniformly pale orange. Roll into a log and cut into 6 equal portions. Shape each into as round a ball as possible, then gently roll on the fine hole grater to make a dimpled skin effect. Paint each orange with more orange dye solution until a rich, bright orange is achieved. Highlight with yellow dye solution.
- Break the center balls from 6 whole cloves and press the clove stem into each orange, so just the star shows to make the blossom end of the orange.
- Allow all marzipan fruits to dry uncovered at room temperature for 24 hours before using. Fruits may be stored longer, lightly covered at room temperature.
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Who knew it was this easy? When I was very young, I remember my mother getting (as a gift, I think) marzipan fruit for Christmas. I was FASCINATED by how cute they were . . . but totally disgusted by the way they tasted. Hooray for evolving palettes!
Hahaha! I remember being similarly fascinated the first time I was presented with a petit four (pronounced “peTEET for” by my dad) – so cute I didn’t want to eat it!
that has to be the best tutorial I have ever seen with Marzipan.
thank you so much
Hi Hilah,
Great recipe! Love Marzipans, brings back all those childhood memories!
I would like to try these out at home!
Any idea where I can pick up fruit molds?
Thanks
Sheba
Hey Sheba! I haven’t made these with molds. I just shape them by hand. The video shows how to make marzipan apples, oranges and pears!
That’s so funny!! I had the same experience!! I had no idea the recipe was this easy. Thank you!
I used shop bought ready made. They looked great to start with. They are for a present, so I made a wooden box as well. 24 hrs later they’ve gone as shiny as glace cherries and just as sticky. !!!!! Please help
Yikes! I’m not sure, but sounds like you may have them in a humid area? Maybe try putting uncovered in the fridge for a bit
This is freakin amazing!!! I am obsessed with marzipan and so is my mom and I have to mail her some all the way to Hawaii (where she lives)..I’ve always wanted to make them homemade!! This is so happening this year! 🙂
Hooray! Send me pics of your marzipan fruit if you can, Samantha. Would love to see them. Happy Thanksgiving!
It doesn’t tell you what to do with the powdered sugar or the cornstarch. Do you roll them in it? If so, before or after painting?
Sorry, I showed in the video that you use it to keep the marzipan at a workable texture. When you add the food coloring, it gets sticky so just use the sugar or cornstarch to keep it from sticking to your hands.
Thank you for sharing these directions! Have wanted to do this for years! And your instructions looked so clear, I had the confidence to go for it! I was happily absorbed in creating & time flew! The fruits of my labor look amazing – just as you describe! Looking forward to seeing any of your other marzipan creations!
Excellent! I’m so glad, Rose. These are really fun to make 🙂
Thank you so much for your amazing video! It saved me, literally lol. I am making wedding favors for my brother’s wedding and we decided upon the “What a Pear” theme. I had never made Marzipan and was delighted to find how easy and fun it was. It was TIME-CONSUMING but fun! I posted a few pics on Pinterest if you would like to see them :).
https://www.pinterest.com/theauburnfox/my-culinary-creations/?eq=my%20culinary%20creations&etslf=2121
So happy to hear, Kitty! Thanks for sharing your pictures 🙂
I have made these in the past as small Christmas presents in a mixed box. One son hates it but the other says it brings back childhood Christmas…loves them. I make them about 1 month befor giving.
Do you make them this far in advance so they can “cure”? What’s the idea behind making them early?
I want to ship some to family across the country. Will they be okay in a cookie box? If they are in an airtight container will they sweat or get wet?
Amazingly easy, and so cute! I had no idea a paint brush is how it’s done. I used almond paste, which was a bit more grainy, but it still looks and tastes great! My husband was impressed because we usually buy our own, and be thought mine were from the store. I put them in mini muffin cups after they dried, so they really looked authentic. I do want to see if there’s a way to use something other then cloves, but the stems are so cute with them! Thanks so much!
Hooray! These are really fun to make. Happy that you had a good time getting creative, Joy 🙂
I like the idea, but are there ways to do edible stems? I don’t want anyone to bite into a clove and don’t want to add a note about removing stems first. Also wouldn’t the taste of the cloves transfer to the marzipan?
I like eating them with the cloves but try some chocolate sprinkles or something if you want
Hi! My daughter brought back mini Marzipan fruit from France. There are about 6 in a packet. I cannot eat them all at once even though I would love to! Would it be ok to freeze them and then just eat one when I want to? I would throw in the microwave or leave at room temp when I wanted to eat one
Thank you.
Hey Judy, I think you can freeze them fine. I would just thaw at room temp for an hour maybe, not microwave
Am I supposed to cook marzipan ?
No it’s ready to use when you buy it
I make marzipan fruits every year, and once painted they take an age to dry, not usually a problem but this year I am making even more for the Church Christmas sale but wont have the the time for them to dry….how can I speed this process up please?
Hi Irene, I haven’t had trouble with them taking so long to dry. Maybe just a couple days. Is it very humid where you are? You could try just putting a fan on them
Thank you very much for sharing this recipe. The video was so helpful. I found that my food colouring quantities needed to be adjusted (probably due to the poor quality of the ones I had).
I’ve had to refrigerate mine, as I live in a very humid climate. I also noticed the fruits changing shape or “melting” after I had formed the fruits, so next time I will work faster.
For my oranges, I added an additional wash of yellow once finished and this really livened up the colour.
Thanks again! I’m already thinking of what to make next!
Glad you had so much fun making them! 🙂
Hilah great video , I’m really super excited to do this,I am retired and cook and invent things in my kitchen,so this is fab.but I want to make my own paste any hints that I should know?Thank you sweetheart.
Hi Eppy! I have never made my own marzipan, sorry!
I’ve been using this recipe and it’s been coming out great.
https://www.daringgourmet.com/how-to-make-marzipan-almond-paste/
I’m adding the extra almond flour he recommends to make it stiffer and a little less sweet.
I don’t have a food processor, but my hand mixer with dough hooks does just fine.
What a great video, thank you so much! My mum and I just made a gorgeous little selection of fruit, they are drying on the bench at the moment. As we’ve never done this before, we were surprised by how easy it was – and that was definitely down to having your video to follow. I did so much googling to figure out how to make marzipan fruit, it looked intimidating and I was pretty sure we’d end up with a very amateur result. However you made it look easy, and with your step by step instructions to follow, it really was easy. Our little dish of fruit looks super cute. Thanks 🙂
I’m so happy the video helped you, Kat! It’s such a satisfying project to make marzipan fruits 🙂
How long can marzipan figures stay out once they’re set out to eat?
Can they then be refrigerated to eat later?
They store best in the fridge, up to two weeks. On the counter for serving, they should be fine for several hours
I am going to try to make these lovely looking fruits .They are present for our neighbour who is now in a care home .She will be 100 years old if the lord spares her come this July 2020.She loves marzipan. Wish me good luck as I really want to make an effort to please and surprise her.
Thank you for the recipe, directions, and video. I haven’t used marzipan before but feel ready now—for my granddaughter’s request of a “bug” cake for her birthday. You are so thoughtful and kind to have done all of this for us!
Most marzipan fruits I’ve bought are only painted on the outside not in the candy. I will try that way.
It’s November 30th and I want to make these as a Christmas present. Will they keep without drying out? Fridge? airtight tin?