In the spirit of Easter, I decided to make these colorful Easter eggs from marzipan. This is a perfect project to make with kids as it is really easy and fun to do.
Marzipan is quite a popular treat here in Germany, they are widely used on bread and pastries, as a matter of fact, they are more popularly used here for decorating cakes than fondant. During holidays, especially on Christmas and Easter time, you will find them being sold at most groceries and supermarkets formed in various shapes and comes in different colors, some are coated in chocolate or hard candy shell while some are simply rolled in cocoa powder.
HOW TO MAKE MARZIPAN:
Printable Recipe
How to make marzipan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups almond meal/flour
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg white
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- ½ teaspoon pure rum aroma
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together the almond meal/flour and powdered sugar with your hand until well blended and all lumps are broken up.
- Add in the rest of ingredients and continue mixing with a spoon or spatula until it forms a thick dough.
- Tip everything on a clean surface and knead it a few times until it becomes smooth. It will be a bit sticky but that is fine. It will be less sticky when it has rested. If it is, however, too sticky to handle or work with then you may add more powdered sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
Form them into eggs
Once you have your marzipan, you can now shape them in a form of an egg by rolling them gently in between your palms. The size, of course, depends on how big you want them to be. As for me, I made them about an inch and half on the long side and I was able to make 20 eggs with the above recipe. I had some leftover chocolate balls with hazelnuts and thought that would be perfect with marzipan and would be a good surprise in every bite. You can use whatever you like: nuts, chocolate or dried fruits. Let them rest for at least 30 minutes to an hour to dry out a bit before painting them.
Hand-paint the marzipan eggs in different colors.
At first, I thought of coating the marzipan eggs in hard candy shells, but upon trying it, I learned that it was not that easy. If the candy mixture is still too hot, it will melt the eggs but if it is a bit cooler it gets sticky and difficult to handle, so I will leave that to the experts. Next, I tried dipping it in white chocolate and the result was not that pretty. It was difficult to make the surface smooth, thus, distorting the egg shape. So, at last, I decided to paint them. I know that marzipan can be colored just like you do with fondant, but hand painting them was much easier and was a lot more fun too. I used powdered food color since I have them in stock and made various colors. I made the colors a bit thick to create more vibrant darker colors. Of course another food color medium is fine to use. The secret is to use a dry brush and fast stroke, meaning not to let the brush get soaking wet, just dip the ends a bit at a time then apply.
Michelle says
Do you think liquid food coloring would work?
Bebs says
I am sure it will.
Esani caterer says
Once again a superb post .. thanks for sharing