Strawberry frangipane

What is frangipane?

Frangipane is a bakeable almond cream. It is a fairly simple mixture of ground almonds, eggs, butter and sugar. Sometimes a small addition of plain flour is required, other times it is further enriched by adding custard.

It is a very practical confection. Often a tart or a pie needs further baking, when the middle layer is topped with fruit, meringue, etc. Buttercream or fresh cream obviously won’t wash, nor will plain custard usually, at the risk of texture change. Frangipane needs baking so it’s handy for a large number of patisserie products: Bakewell, galette des rois, Danish pastries and numerous other bakes.

Where does it come from?

Its origin is not quite clear. It has certainly been popularised by French pâtissiers, most commonly by using it in galette des rois, a traditional French bake for Epiphany.

But the birthplace of frangipane seems to be Italy. One theory claims it was devised by count Cesare Frangipani for Catherine de Medici’s wedding banquet, another links the cream to the frangipani plant, Plumeria alba, scented with almond-like fragrance. And then there is the French marquis Pompéo Frangipani who created a frangipani perfume for leather gloves and shoes. Smell the glove?

But no matter when and how it was invented, frangipane is delicious. And what’s more, it can make a standalone cake, baked all on its own, rather than filling a tart case.

How to make frangipane cream?

As already said, it is easy to make, like an ordinary sponge batter. It consists of eggs, butter, ground almonds and sugar in equal proportions in weight, except I do prefer it slightly less sweet so I usually reduce the sugar content.

Starting with beating butter with sugar, a handheld or standing mixer makes it an easy job.

The eggs are added next and beaten in, one by one, and invariably the mixture tends to curdle at least slightly at this point. But as I have found again and again, it really doesn’t affect the final product and is caused by the eggs’ water content not absorbed by fat, i.e. failing to form an emulsion. If curdling bothers you, add a spoonful of the ground almonds with every egg.

But even if the batter looks like a particularly horrid case of scrambled eggs, it will still be fine once the (almond, in this case) flour is added.

Frangipane can be baked in a round or rectangular ceramic dish or a square brownie tin, the latter lined with parchment.

Strawberries should be arranged quite sparsely as the frangipane batter is light and won’t support the fruit properly when baked on its own.

Baking takes less than half an hour, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the tin.

Before serving, you can dust it with icing sugar and cut it into squares, with fresh strawberry slices scattered on top.

It will surprisingly last a good couple of days in the fridge, without the fresh berries on top, of course.

Variations

The whole berry world is yours here, with raspberries, blueberries and blackberries (or a mix) working just as well as strawberries in the recipe. You can also use cherries, pitted and halved, slivers of apricots, diced peaches and nectarines or chunks of plums.

Likewise, other nuts can replace almonds though it is less easy to procure ground walnuts, hazelnuts or pistachios. You might want to grind them yourself, in a food processor or a nut and spice grinder. In which case take care not to turn the nuts into paste, as it may easily happen.

More almond recipes

Cardamom cake with a crunchy almond bottom layer which turns into upside down topping, is a delicious, fragrant sponge lifted only with air beaten into the eggs and sugar mix. The sugared almond crunch is to die for.

Raspberry and almond slice, a gorgeous buttery traybake with flaked almond, sugar and butter topping: it’s easier to make and tastier than Bakewell!

Swedish almond caramel cake, Toscakaka, is a lovely and easy cake to make ahead. Bake the base in advance, then add caramel topping and blast it under the grill just before serving.

More strawberry dessert recipes

Strawberry soured cream coffee cake with crunchy streusel topping has a strawberry layer running through delicious sponge, and it’s as easy to make as it is to eat. Nigella Lawson’s recipe is a winner as usual, suitable to serve slightly warm for pudding as well as cold with a cup of tea or coffee.

Strawberries and whipped labneh, a healthy version of the beloved Wimbledon dessert, strawberries and cream. Labneh, thick strained yoghurt, is as delicious as cream but leaner in fat and calories.

Classic Victoria sponge sandwich cake filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, also known as strawberry shortcake sandwich.