When I was little, I used to hate marzipan. It looked like delicious cheese until you touched it and it was weirdly moist and slimy. I couldn’t get my head around the texture or taste. My brother absolutely loved it, and still does. I’m talking about OTT love though. He preferred it over chocolate (I know, like what?) and would eat mounds of it every Christmas time.
I made him some chocolate marzipan balls for a present a few years ago, had a nibble and discovered I did like it. Possibly because I was really into Disoranno at the time and it’s a similar almondy taste! It’s still not something I have very often, basically only at Christmas, so when I was speaking to Renshaw Baking about their summer marzipan cake* I was intrigued.
I’m going to make this next time I’m home so that I can pretend I’m a top sister. If there’s one thing Alasdair loves more than marzipan, it’s cake.
Lemon and Marzipan Drizzle Cake
Ingredients (for the cake):
- 240g unsalted butter
- 200g caster sugar
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 3 large eggs
- 210g self-raising flour
- 90g plain flour
- 150g marzipan – chopped into small cubes
Ingredients (for the drizzle):
- Juice of 3 lemons
- 4 tbsp of caster sugar
Ingredients (for the icing):
- 200g icing sugar
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. (I’ve just moved and have a brand new oven which is soo much better than my last one (my old one made this weird drilling noise when turned on!)).
- Cream the butter and sugar together until it’s light and fluffy. I find a fork is the best tool for this personally.
- Add in the lemon juice and zest and mix.
- Add the marzipan and beat well until fully combined.
- Beat in each egg, one at a time. Mix in a tablespoon of self-raising flour in between eggs to stop the mix from curdling.
- Sift the flour and remaining self-raising in to the bowl and mix until you have a smooth mixture.
- Pour your cake mix into a greased 8-inch cake tin. Sprinkle the top with a little caster sugar and bake for 1 hour. To test if the cake is ready insert a skewer into the middle. When it comes out clean the cake is done.
- Make the drizzle while the cake is still warm by mixing lemon juice and caster sugar until the liquid is thick and gloopy.
- Pierce the cake with a skewer (stab stab stab – release some frustration) so there is plenty of even holes, then pour over the drizzle. This might need to be done in stages
Unless it’s for someone’s birthday, there’s no need for fancy decoration so make the icing by adding your icing sugar to a bowl and then slowly adding lemon juice, mixing between each new splash. You’ll end up with a thick paste which needs beating, then it’s ready to spread and sprinkle some lemon zest on top!
I know I’ve not made it yet but seriously, this looks like the easiest marzipan cake recipe ever (although admittedly, until now I didn’t realise that it was even a thing). I feel like its very summery because of the lemon, it’s just sad that we’re not getting a summer this year. I’ve spent most of my June shouting “but it’s JUNE, where’s the sun!!” in despair at my colleagues.
What are your thoughts on marzipan?
*Sponsored post
