marzipan

• marchpane (obsolete)

Borrowed from German Marzipan, from Italian marzapane, Venetian marzapane. Believed to be, with influence from pane (“bread”), derived from Arabic مَرْطَبَان (marṭabān, “spice box”) which comes from the name of a Burmese port known for its spice exports, Martaban, now called in Burmese မုတ္ထမ (muthta.ma.).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmɑːzɪˈpæn/, /ˈmɑːzɪpæn/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹzəpæn/, /ˈmɑɹtsəpɑn/, /ˈmɑɹtsəpæn/
• Rhymes: -æn

fruit-shaped marzipan at a market in Florence, Italy

marzipan (usually uncountable, plural marzipans)

1. A confection made from a paste of almonds, sugar and egg white as a binder.
2. A similar confection made using another nut, such as peanut or hazelnut.
   • 2009, Hamlyn All Colour Cookery: 200 Christmas Recipes: Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, (Please provide the book title or journal name), Hamlyn, →ISBN:

     Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and grill […] then grind finely […] then add the caster sugar and ground hazelnuts [to egg whites] and mix to a stiff marzipan paste. Sandwich the pecan nuts together in pairs with a little of the hazelnut marzipan.

   • 2015, The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 433:

     Hazelnut marzipan. Hazelnuts are used as an alternative to almonds, ground together in a proportion from 11⁄2 to 2 parts nuts to sugar. Almonds may be mixed in according to taste.

   • 2019, Lagusta Yearwood, Sweet + Salty: The Art of Vegan Chocolates, Truffles, Caramels, and More from Lagusta's Luscious, Da Capo Lifelong Books, →ISBN:

     […] cookie mini pack, watermelon Bubble Yum or, my favorite, de la Rosa, a peanut marzipan round packaged in a cellophane wrapper with a delicate rose printed on it. De la Rosa is a perfect confection. Just crumbly enough, just sweet enough  […]

   • 2020, Amy C. Evans, Martha Hall Foose, A Good Meal Is Hard to Find: Storied Recipes from Deep South, Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 87:

     To make the filling: In a food processor, blend the peanut butter, powdered sugar, salt, and cayenne together. […] THE FILLING RECIPE IS ALSO awfully close to that of peanut marzipan, which you can make yourself by adding more powdered sugar to create a sturdier, shape-able “dough,” or just look for the de la Rosa brand at your local Latino grocery.

3. (countable) A piece of such a confection.
   • 2002, Lance Olsen, Girl Imagined by Chance, University of Alabama Press, →ISBN, page 81:

     One afternoon not long afterwards you waited byher bedside as she swam through anesthetic. A box of cherry chocolates and a dozen roses in your lap. Cherry chocolates and chocolate-covered marzipans. Then you drove her home. Chocolate-covered marzipans being her favorite.

   • 2016, Rosanna Chiofalo, Rosalia's Bittersweet Pastry Shop, Kensington Books, →ISBN:

     In one hand she held a handkerchief, and in the other she held two cherry-shaped marzipans. Rosalia smiled when she saw the marzipans and took them and the handkerchief from Madre Carmela.

• almond paste
• Christmas cake
• simnel cake

• marzipan layer
• persipan
• peanut marzipan

marzipan (third-person singular simple present marzipans, present participle marzipanning, simple past and past participle marzipanned)

1. (transitive) To cover with marzipan.

   a marzipanned cake