Almond Cream (French Almond Cream)

Several years ago, I worked at Café Besalu in Seattle, a French-style bakery known for its croissants and flaky pastries. Every week we made gallons and gallons of rich almond cream with butter, sugar, eggs, and ground almonds (although at the time we called the preparation “frangipane” – more on the proper distinctions below). Almond cream is a common filling for French desserts and pastries, and at the bakery we use it to top Danishes, tart shells, and twice-baked croissants, among many other pastries.

When preparing almond cream, bakers often incorporate almond extract to emphasize the nutty flavor of almond flour, and may also include vanilla extract, citrus zest, and spirits like brandy or rum for added flavor and depth. I’m a fan of all these additions and include them in my recipe here. Once cooked, the mixture takes on the texture of a light and fluffy almond cake, making it an ideal filling for a fruit tart, a flaky croissant or even a sweet roll. It’s not only easy to prepare, it’s also an essential ingredient for making many elegant French desserts.

Almond cream, almond paste and frangipane: what’s the difference?

Today, many bakers outside of France mistakenly call almond cream frangipane. In French pastry, however, frangipane is a mixture usually consisting of one part crème pâtissière (crème pâtissière) and two parts almond cream. To make things even more confusing, there is also a variation of custard, almond custard, enriched with almond flour.

Then there’s marzipan, as well as marzipan, to consider. Both marzipan and marzipan are made from ground almonds, powdered sugar, and egg whites, but there are a few key differences: Marzipan contains less sugar than marzipan and is often incorporated into baked goods like Italian rainbow cookies. Marzipan, on the other hand, is much sweeter, has a texture similar to fondant, and is usually rolled into thin sheets to be draped over cakes and cookies or eaten on its own.

How to make a fragrant and tasty almond cream

Use blanched almond flour. Many almond cream recipes call for cooks to grind their own almond flour by blending whole almonds into a coarse meal. While I applaud these efforts, you risk turning the almonds into nut butter or, on the other end of the spectrum, having to carefully sort the larger pieces to ensure the nuts are ground evenly. I like the convenience of using store-bought almond flour, which also gives a softer, creamier texture. Almond flour (or almond flour, as it is often called) comes in two varieties: blanched and natural. The blanching process removes the skin from the almonds, producing a pale beige-colored almond flour. Natural almond flour, on the other hand, is ground from almonds with the skins on, giving it a speckled appearance and a slightly coarser texture.

The two varieties are quite similar in taste, although pastry chefs and bakers often prefer blanched almond flour for its finer grind and solid color, especially for delicate desserts like macaroons or madeleines, where a coarser grind can affect the texture of the dough and give baked goods an off-putting graininess. But for an almond cream, the difference really comes down to appearance, so use whatever you prefer or that’s available near you.

Toast the almond flour. Typically, almond flour is added as is directly into the almond cream, but I recommend lightly toasting the almond flour in the oven. This heats the almond’s volatile flavor compounds, enhancing the ingredient’s nutty taste and deepening its naturally sweet and earthy flavors.

Simply spread the almond flour in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for five to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until lightly browned and very fragrant. You want to make sure the almond flour cools completely to room temperature before adding it to the dough, otherwise you risk melting the butter and breaking the mixture.

Give it a bold flavor with extracts and alcohol. For years I thought I hated almond flavoring; it often overwhelmed the baking it was used in and I found it cloying. Over the years the ingredient has grown on me and when I make almond cream I add a generous amount of almond and vanilla extracts, along with plenty of brandy and lemon zest. It may seem like a lot of big flavors together, but the warm, deep notes of vanilla and brandy along with the floral scent of citrus zest help balance the sharpness of the almond extract, resulting in a well-balanced and deeply aromatic blend. In my own version, I swap the lemon zest for orange zest, which offers a more floral and mellow citrus note.
Play with the flavors. Don’t hesitate to change the flavors. Replace the orange zest with lemon or grapefruit zest, or omit it altogether. You can use rum instead of brandy, and if you’re worried that the almond extract will be too overpowering, you can stir in half a teaspoon of almond extract instead of the one and a half teaspoons I recommend below. You can even use another nut: almost any flour or nut meal will do. Hazelnut cream made from hazelnut flour would be delicious, and you could replace the almond extract and brandy with a hazelnut liqueur like Frangelico. Pistachios also work well and produce a pleasantly green mixture.

How to use almond cream

I recommend using this almond cream to make a fruit and almond tart. Fill a pre-baked pie shell (such as shortcrust pastry, sweet pastry or shortcrust pastry) and garnish it with sliced ​​fruit such as apples, pears or plums. As the pie bakes, the fruit will sink into the mixture, forming a cohesive filling that’s perfectly sliceable. Even though I no longer work in a bakery, I still turn to almond cream whenever I need an elegant dessert or pastry: I fill a homemade tart shell with it or spread it on store-bought croissants for an easy version of twice-baked almond croissants. The result is always bakery-worthy and never fails to impress.