Marzipan-babies

Believe it or not, these babies were not made out of sperm and egg cell but through cake frosting! These are made with marzipan, an almond paste consisting primarily of sugar and ground almonds. Often with egg whites or yolks, used as a layer in cakes or molded into ornamental shapes.


Marzipan is often made into sweets: common uses are marzipan-filled chocolate and small marzipan imitations of fruits and vegetables. It is also rolled into thin sheets and glazed for icing cakes and is traditionally used in wedding cakes, Christmas cakes, and stollen. In some countries marzipan is shaped into small figures of animals, such as pigs, as a traditional treat for New Year's Day. Marzipan is also used in Tortell, and in some versions of king cake eaten during the Carnival season.



In Italy, particularly in Palermo, marzipan (marzapane) is often shaped and painted with food colorings to resemble fruit — Frutta martorana — especially during the Christmas season. In Portugal, traditional marzipan (maçapao) fruit shaped sweets made in the Algarve region are called morgadinhos. There are other regions, as Toledo in Spain in which marzipan is shaped into simple animal shapes, and usually filled in with egg yolk and sugar (yema). In Latin American cuisine, marzipan is known as mazapán and is also traditionally eaten at Christmas.









In the Middle-East, marzipan (known as lozina, which is derived from the word "lows", the arabic word for almonds) is flavored with orange-flower water and shaped into roses and other delicate flowers before they are baked.