marzipan

marzipan

See also: Marzipan

English

Alternative forms

• marchpane (obsolete)

Etymology

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.).

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

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

Noun

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, Hamlyn All Colour Cookery: 200 Christmas Recipes: Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, 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.

Coordinate terms

• almond paste
• Christmas cake
• simnel cake

Derived terms

• marzipan layer
• persipan

Translations

confection of almond paste, sugar and egg white

Albanian: marzipani m Arabic: مَرْصَبَان‎ m (marṣabān) Armenian: մարցիպան (marcʿipan) Azerbaijani: marzipan, marsipan, martsipan Basque: mazapan Bulgarian: марципан m (marcipan) Catalan: massapà m Chinese: Cantonese: 杏仁糖 (hang6 jan4 tong4) Mandarin: 杏仁蛋白糖 (xìngrén dànbái táng), 杏仁膏 (xìngréngāo), 杏仁糖膏 (xìngrén tánggāo), 杏仁糖 (xìngréntáng), 杏仁糖衣 (xìngrén tángyī) Cornish: toos alamandys m Czech: marcipán (cs) m Danish: marcipan (da) c Dutch: marsepein (nl) m Esperanto: marcipano Estonian: martsipan Finnish: marsipaani (fi) French: massepain (fr) m Galician: marzapán m German: Marzipan (de) n Greek: αμυγδαλόπαστα n pl (amygdalópasta), μάρτσιπαν n (mártsipan) Hebrew: מַרְצִיפָּן‎ (he) m (martzipán) Hungarian: marcipán (hu) Icelandic: marsípan (is) m Ido: marcipano (io) Indonesian: marsepen (id), marzipan (id) Italian: marzapane (it) m Japanese: マルチパン (maruchipan), マジパン (majipan) Korean: 마지팬 (majipaen) Latin: (New Latin) Mārtius pānis m, mārtipānis m, Mārcī pānis m Latvian: marcipāns m Limburgish: massepae n Lithuanian: marcipanas m Luxembourgish: Marzipan m Macedonian: марципа́н m (marcipán) Malay: marzipan Norwegian: marsipan m Persian: مارزیپان‎ (mârzepân) Polish: marcepan (pl) m Portuguese: marzipã (pt) m, maçapão m Romanian: marțipan (ro) n Russian: марципа́н (ru) m (marcipán) Samogitian: marcėpans m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: марцѝпа̄н m Roman: marcìpān (sh) m Sicilian: marzapani (scn) m, mazzapani (scn) m, marzipani (scn) m Slovene: marcipan (sl) m Spanish: mazapán (es) m Swedish: marsipan (sv) c Tagalog: marsapan Turkish: masapan, marzipan Uzbek: marsipan Welsh: marsipán m West Flemish: marseping n

Verb

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