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Dessert

Strawberry Marchpane

A sweet confection made from almond paste, sugar, and strawberry juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Strawberry Marchpane

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds and sugar

  1. Beat the almonds to a fine paste.

  2. Mix the almond paste with the sugar boiled to a soft ball stage.

Cook the mixture

  1. Crush and strain the juice from the strawberries and add it to the almond paste and syrup.

  2. Stir the mixture well and set it on hot ashes, stirring continuously until it thickens.

  3. To test, place a piece on the back of your hand; if it doesn't stick, it's ready.

Shape and set

  1. When cool, spread it on a slab and cut into desired shapes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Form the bulk of the paste, giving it body and a smooth, fine texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, when boiled to a soft ball, helps the paste set firm enough to shape.
Strawberries
Add fruity flavor, aroma and moisture to the almond paste and syrup.

The step that matters

Thickening the mixture over heat. Stirring constantly on hot ashes prevents scorching on the bottom, and the paste must thicken enough to hold its shape once cool. Stopping too early leaves it soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it stiff and dry.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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