Marzipan is essentially ground almonds and sugar, so there is no reason why marzipan would contain gluten, and I have never seen commercially produced blocks of baking marzipan that has gluten in it. As we know, though, manufacturers put wheat flour into all sorts of unlikely things, so it is best to check if you are at all worried.
My gluten free daughter loves marzipan (as I do), and enjoys modelling tiny creatures out of it to decorate cakes … no, what am I saying … the marzipan models are always eaten before they make it to the top of any cake. They might not be the most beautiful marzipan shapes, but they do taste good!
In case you want to make your own marzipan to cover a cake, here are some variants on the recipe:
Marzipan
8 oz ground almonds
8 oz caster sugar (= superfine sugar)
8 oz icing sugar (= confectioners sugar)
2 eggs
few drops almond essence
or
8 oz ground almonds
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz icing sugar
3-4 tablespoons amaretto liqueur
or
8 oz ground almonds
8 oz caster sugar
4 oz icing sugar
1 egg
juice of 1/2 lemon
You get the idea – ground almonds, sugar and liquid of some kind. Mix it up to a paste and put in the fridge until you’re ready to roll it out.
Remember you will also need:
- more icing/confectioners sugar to stop the marzipan sticking to the table and to your rolling pin
- and then something to stick the marzipan to the cake – usually warmed apricot jam is used for this, and you could sieve it if you felt professional
- and something to stick the icing to the marzipan – cooled boiled water is commonly used for this.
If you’re just modelling with the marzipan, then you could think about adding different food colourings to it, adding sprinkles, coating it in chocolate – whatever seems good.
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The marzipan I keep finding in stores near me Odette’s or somthing like that, is thickened with wheat starch.
I appreciate the recipe so that I can make my own!
Hi Mira – thanks for visiting, and for letting me know about the marzipan near you. I’m shocked! Why ever would they need to thicken it with wheat starch? … though I suppose after all this time I shouldn’t be surprised to find wheat starch in anything at all. It must be to make it cheaper to make.
Are you based in the US? I apologise to anyone I may have misled – as far as I’m aware, marzipan (both golden and natural) here in the UK is gluten free, but I’m going to check. Marzipan made by Supercook or Renfrew is gluten free (the major manufacturers of marzipan here). The own-brand marzipan sold at Waitrose, Asda and the Co-op is gluten free.
Still to check: M&S, Sainsbury, Somerfield and Tesco.
Sainsbury’s are the first to respond: their own brand marzipan is gluten free.
Still waiting to hear from M&S, Somerfield and Tesco
M&S have replied to say that the only gluten free marzipan product they have at the moment (September 07) is the marzipan bar in their confectionery range. I think probably they don’t stock blocks of marzipan for baking, since groceries isn’t really their thing.
Dear Lucy,
I just found this fantastic website, cause I was looking on the internet for some help to organize the menu for my wedding. I can eat gluten, but some of my closest guests can not. Then, and because I will cook by myself all the menu and the cake I was looking for some ideas to do it.
I wish my menu will be 100% gluten free.
Because this marzipan recipes, I will be able to do my wedding cake as I wish :) and without put someone in the hospital. Great!!!!
Thank you so much for your help and if you wish I can give you after the full wedding menu details, cause maybe somebody else needs this information too.
My kind regards,
Ale
Hi Ale
I’m glad to hear this was helpful to you. Yes, please do share your wedding menu details when you’re ready, as I’m sure people will be interested.
All the best with the wedding plans!
Thank you for this- need some for modelling and the ones from ocado and tesco have wheat in. I Know there is a more expensive marzipan roll (red wrapper) that is gluten free but I cannot remember where to but local so this is great.
Hi maryann.
I’ve seen the red wrapper roll too – I’ll try and remember to take a note next time I spot it and add it here…
Thanks for commenting!
Hi there! Just wanted to let you know the marzipan in my stores also states wheat as an ingredient. :( I love marzipan, so I’m searching for a gluten-free brand I can get online and that’s how I got to your site. Thank you!
Hello!! Thank you for this. I may try making my own marzipan this year; the difficulty is going to be grinding the almonds finely enough!
But I wanted to report what I have discovered about gluten-free marzipan: the glucose in European marzipan is usually derived from wheat; the glucose in North American marzipan is usually derived from corn. So… provenance is something to watch for!!
Emily
Hi Emily
If you can’t get hold of ground almonds (readily available here in the UK) you could try grinding nuts in a coffee grinder… I’ve done that, when I’ve had to!
And the glucose thing is interesting, though I’m not worried about it. Coeliac UK tells us that “Glucose syrup is gluten-free. It can be derived from wheat however the production methods involve a high level of hydrolysation, meaning there is no significant gluten content in the sugars. The final ingredient is gluten-free and foods with glucose syrups can be eaten by people with coeliac disease.”
Of course, we’re all different, and so I’m not making any promises for other people, but we’ve never had a problem with marzipan. (Other than eating too much!) And if you’re making it yourself, then of course you know exactly what’s in it…
hi ive been asked to make a 12” madeira birthday cake for a little girl who is gluten and wheat intollerant.no marzipan required but il need to use sugarpaste…is this wheat/gluten free? and does anyone have any good recipies for the cake they can share with me please? her mum says shes never had a birthday cake before and thats all she wants..in a princess theme :-) i would hate to have to say no,but have never had any experiance with these intolerances before so am afraid that if i agreed i may,unknowingly,make her poorly.please help.xxxx many thanks.christine.xxx
Hi Christine
I don’t usually bake madeira cakes, so I’m not very familiar with them, but there’s a recipe here: http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/gluten-free-madeira-cake and Doves Farm sell a wheat-free and gluten-free flour to go with the recipe.
If you’re going to use a different recipe, and/or a different flour, remember to check that it is both wheat-free and gluten-free for this little girl, and also that any baking powder you use is also wheat-free and gluten-free. (They aren’t all!)
To make it a princess theme, I guess you could bake it in a bowl, then when it is cooked turn it upside down and push a Barbie-type doll into the centre, up to the waist, so it looks as though she is wearing a skirt made of cake, and ice it in pink. (Search on Google for Barbie cake and you’ll see what I mean). Do remember to check any decorations you use. For example, only Marks and Spencer have gluten free silver balls, that I’ve found.
I’m not sure what you mean by sugarpaste, but icing for cakes is usually just sugar, water, egg and maybe butter, depending on the kind of icing. If you’re buying it ready made, do check the label.
And come back and ask any more questions you have about this – good luck!
Thank you so much for your quick response, when i say sugarpaste i mean ready to roll icing/fondant which doesnt actually say it contains wheat BUT i did some research and apparently some glucose syrups contained in ‘packet’ icing are made from wheat derivatives??? do you know anymore info on this that may help as now youve sorted me out with a recipe for a cake (thank you so much…and they sell that wheat and gluten free flour in my local tesco) im struggling with how to know for sure which icing/decorations i could use.Is there specific ingredients i should avoid which dont actually call themselves ‘wheat or gluten’ or am i just over-reacting??? just dont want to make any mistakes which may make her poorly.Once again,many thanks.xxx chris.xxxx
Hi
We only need to be gluten free here, so we can use the wheat-based glucose syrups without any problem, but I do think that if she also needs to be wheat free, you might need to avoid them. Could you make your own icing? I know you wanted to use fondant icing, but royal icing and butter cream icing would both be gluten and wheat free (try searching http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/ for icing recipes)
Here in the UK, labelling has got a lot better. See http://www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-lifestyle/choosing-safe-foods/reading-labels for more information.
As for cake decorations: these can be tricky, as often these do contain wheat/gluten. Do check labels carefully! Consider using small sweets if you’re having trouble finding good cake decorations. Or you can colour icing or marzipan using safe colouring, roll it out, and cut out shapes using cake cutters, and then stick them to the icing with a little water.
I do hope she has a good birthday!
The most popularly sold marzipan in America for baking is a Danish brand called Odense and yes, it does contain glucose wheat starch as a thickener. Very disappointing – wheat/glucose is just a cheap sweetener and filler in so many products.
The first commenter, Mira, I believe she was referring to this brand.
Hi Lynne – that makes sense. Thanks for letting us know! Disappointing indeed… I wonder if it tastes different, too?
Odense Brand from Denmark tastes to me, a little glue-ier, stickier, too sweet for me and the almond flavor is not as pronounced as other German brands I have tasted. I’m fairly certain it is mass-produced for the American market. I believe Odense Brand adds the wheat starch glucose to make the marzipan more malleable and shapeable.
oh, one more thing. I am not a Coeliac myself, but I have Hypothyroidism (poorly functioning thyroid-called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis). I was told to avoid gluten and yes, I have seen a positive improvement in my body. No more backaches or brainfog. Skeptical at first, but it really did help me.