Embracing Your Inner Aunt

I sometimes wonder if I’m mysteriously stuck in a time warp – so many of the things I like seem to be, at best, retro and, at worst, dodgy (and impossible to obtain). But, given how capricious fashion can be, one day’s fondue is another day’s cupcakes. And you know what happens once you get me started on that rant (yet) again. One of these impossible things is marzipan...

Picture:  Wally Gilbert*

Its current associations seem to involve ageing aunts with laborious afternoon teas, or the sorts of wedding cakes that people run a mile from and that give rise to the opposite sort of extreme. Normal cakes with marzipan on under the icing just don’t exist. Which necessitates measures like buying it separately to eat on the side of whatever baked thing is lacking it. After hunting it down in the supermarket (and after explaining to a shop assistant what it is, because it’s always put somewhere highly illogical and impossible to find). The possible exception is marzipan fruit, which appear to be one of those peculiar items that is always available, but nobody ever buys.

So, I’d pretty much given up on marzipan. Which made coming across cakes that involve it not just as a covering, but as an ingredient all the more surprising. And they look lovely. And delicious. And have proper icing**. And are very likely to be added to an ever-expanding list of things to try out... I think it’s time to discover my inner aunt, as it were...

Picture: Cake Crumbs and Cooking

These also caught my eye, more from the wow-somebody-thought-of-that perspective. I can lose track of how much time I spend thinking about baking, but never had it occurred to me to knit with marzipan. Plaited loaves I can understand, but knitting...

Pictures: Vegan Yum Yum - can you tell that I was utterly fascinated by these?

However, it seems impossible to go past Canelle et Vanille (as ever) for the impossibly perfect recipe (and photos). Marzipan ice cream. Just imagine. Surely there's a challenge for Gelato Messina right there! And one they've very probably risen to already...

Picture: Canelle et Vanille

* As marzipan fruit go, these might be some of the prettiest I think I've seen.
** I realise this may appear to be becoming an obsession, but really it’s just a small (though persistent) niggle.