This French Ingredient Will Unlock a Lifetime of Pastry Possibilities

Several years ago, I worked at Café Besalu in Seattle, a French-style bakery that was known for its croissants and laminated pastries. Each week, we made quarts and quarts of rich almond cream with butter, sugar, eggs, and ground almonds (although at the time we referred to the preparation as “frangipane”—more on the proper distinctions below). Almond cream is a common French dessert and pastry filling, and at the bakery, we used it to fill danishes, tart shells, and twice-baked croissants, among many other pastries.

When making almond cream, bakers often incorporate almond extract to emphasize the almond flour’s nuttiness, and may also include vanilla extract, citrus zests, and spirits like brandy or rum for added fragrance and depth. I’m a fan of all of these additions, and include them in my recipe here. Once baked, the mixture takes on the texture of a light, moist 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 make, it’s also an essential ingredient  for preparing many elegant French desserts.

Almond Cream, Almond Paste, and Frangipane: What’s the Difference?

Today, many bakers outside of France mistakenly refer to almond cream as frangipane. In French pâtisserie, however, frangipane is a mixture that’s typically one part pastry cream (crème pâtissière) and two parts almond cream. To confuse matters even more, there’s also a variation on pastry cream—crème pâtissière aux amandes—that’s enriched with almond flour.

Then there’s almond paste, as well as marzipan, to consider. Both almond paste and marzipan are made with ground almonds, confectioners’ sugar, and egg whites, but there are a few key differences: Almond paste 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 similar texture to fondant, and is typically rolled into thin sheets for draping onto cakes and cookies or eating on its own.

How to Make a Fragrant, Flavorful Almond Cream

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

The two varieties taste pretty similar, though pastry chefs and bakers often prefer blanched almond flour for its finer grind and solid color, especially for delicate desserts like macarons or madeleines, where a coarser grind can affect the texture of the batter and give the pastries an off-putting grittiness. But for the purpose of an almond cream, the difference really comes down to looks, so use whatever you prefer or is available near you. 

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

Simply spread the almond flour into an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for five to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until it’s a light golden-brown color and very fragrant. You want to make sure the almond flour cools to room temperature completely before adding it to the batter—otherwise you’ll risk melting the butter and breaking the mixture. 

Give it bold flavor with extracts and booze. For years, I thought I hated almond flavoring; it often overwhelmed whatever pastry it was used in and I found it cloying. Over the years, the ingredient has grown on me, and when I’m making 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 and deep notes in vanilla and brandy as well as the floral fragrance of citrus zest help balance the sharpness of the almond extract, resulting in a well-rounded mixture that’s deeply aromatic. In my own version, I swap lemon zest for orange zest, which offers a more floral and mellow citrus note.
 
Play around with the flavorings. Feel free to tweak the flavorings. Swap the orange zest for lemon or grapefruit zest, or omit it entirely. You could use rum instead of brandy, and if you’re worried the almond extract will be overpowering, you could incorporate half a teaspoon of almond extract instead of the one and a half teaspoons I recommend below. You could even use a different nut: Almost any nut meal or flour will work. Hazelnut cream made with hazelnut flour would be delicious, and you could substitute a hazelnut liqueur like Frangelico for the almond extract and brandy. 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 par-baked tart shell (like pâte brisée, pâte sucrée, or pâte sablée) and top it with sliced fruit such as apples, pears, or plums. As the tart bakes, the fruit will sink into the mixture, forming a cohesive filling that’s perfectly sliceable. Though I no longer work at a bakery, I still turn to almond cream whenever I’m in need of an elegant dessert or pastry: I’ll fill a homemade tart shell with it or slather it onto store-bought croissants for an easy take on twice-baked almond croissants. The result is always bakery-worthy, and never fails to impress. 

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