I do my best thinking when I’m exercising. I’m proud of my ability to multi-task… working hard to whittle down my thighs while planning to make various recipes by scouring through cooking magazines at the gym. I always overplan. During a recent 45 minute workout, I mentally planned several ‘30 Minute or Less’ dinners, learned how to make hot cross buns for Easter, decided on a quiche & salad for lunch, discovered how to pickle vegetables, selected my Easter brunch menu, and gained inspiration for a Cuban dinner party. But the how-to I was most excited to dig into was Martha’s explanation on how to make Marzipan Carrots.
Marzipan is sold in the baking aisle of most markets. It’s a soft, pliable mixture of almond paste & sugar. Bakers often color it, form it into shapes, and use it as decor on their baked goods.I’ve seen this sort of confection before- marzipan- … always figured it was too much of a pain to try and do something with it. For the record, it’s not difficult to work with, and it was much like playing with playdough.
Here’s the How-To on making carrots out of Marzipan:
You need marzipan, gel-paste coloring (LOTS easier to work with than regular liquid food coloring- find it at craft or baking stores), cocoa and carrot fronds (the greens).
Mix a few drops of the gel-paste coloring with the marzipan. Work it in with a spoon until you get the desired carrot color you’re looking for.
Separate the colored marzipan into 12 pieces and roll into carrot-shapes with one end tapered. Always keep marzipan covered or kept in a ziploc until you’re ready to work with it (dries out quickly).
Dampen a small knife and dip edge in cocoa. Carefully make indentations with the cocoa-dipped knife on the marzipan carrot shapes (to simulate a real carrot, ‘just-picked’ look). You can also take a little brush and brush on the cocoa instead.
At this point you can keep your almost-finished carrots in a little ziploc baggie until you’re ready to use them. Just before placing them as decor, slip small pieces of carrot fronds into the ends by making a small slit, placing a frond inside the slit, and then gently closing it up again.
How do they look? Realistic enough to pass as little carrots? My Marzipan Carrots were a bright orange, but to be fair, the real carrots in the picture were quite a light orange- which makes the difference more extreme. The fronds and the ‘dirt’ help make them look like the real thing. And the best part?… you can eat these dirty little carrots. They taste like an almond confection.
In my next post, I’ll share what I did with these cute little nibbles (hint: an Easter dessert!)
Step by Step instructions of How to Make Marzipan Carrots can be printed out HERE.
The real carrots were found at Specialty Produce… Thanks SP 
39 Comments
I saw this in Martha this month and thought it would be too difficult. Thanks for the tutorial. I think I could really do this!
Oh this is too adorable. I can’t wait to see what you did with them. It makes me want to rush and make a carrot cake. But I’ll bet you did something more creative.
These are so cute!
OMG. these are darling and sooo simple! Thanks for the tutorial!!
How cute are those!
Oh my gosh this is amazing. They look so real! what fun.
And I am very impressed by your multitasking. Your workouts sound incredibly productive! You Go RecipeGirl!
I usually make my own marzipan since its so incredibly expensive, almond meal is pretty reasonably priced at mediterranean/middle eastern markets like north park produce, I usually whip it up in the food processor with corn syrup/confectioners sugar.
These marzipan carrots are just too cute! They look so realistic. I can’t wait to see what you used them for!
Jennywenny- hadn’t even THOUGHT to make it myself!! What a great idea for next time. Thanks!
These look great. I will have to try them the next time I make carrot cake, which is my favorite cake.
they look great! I love marzipan!
really cool! these look really nice.
Absolutely adorable! What a great idea!
Emily
justeatfood.com
I sure hope those sweet carrots are going on top of a carrot cake
very talented
They look fantastic!
Very cute!
Haha, this made me laugh- I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one who reads cooking magazines at the gym! My husband is always making fun of me for that. Those carrots are darling too. I’ve never worked with marzipan before, I might just have to find a reason to use little carrots now. Thanks for the lesson!
Adorable, but you’ll have to stay on the treadmill a little longer if you eat too many!
I am THE multitasker, haha
Fabulous sugar-carrots!!
Very cute! I was just thinking of making some homemade marzipan for Easter cake decorations. I really like that you used cocoa for the dirt instead of more food color.
Too cute! I once (back in my single days with a lot of time) sat and made a whole field of baby pumpkins. They were so cute. I froze them and used them as decorations for years. It was fun. I should do it again!
I wish I got that much done when I was working out!! I wouldn’t mind it quite as much.
I LOVE your marzipan carrots. They are seriously adorable!!
Haha They really do look realistic!Like baby carrots!
Awesome- I just bought a packet of marzipan carrots while on vacation in Austria- I love marzipan but have always been intimidated working with it myself.
Thanks for sharing you tips- they look too damn cute.
-Siri
Gorgeous! They really look like original carrots!
You’re so ready for Easter!
Wonderful job! They look incredibly realistic…I’m amazed how simple it was to make them. Thanks for the pictorial!
Your carrots turned out perfectly! Good job!
Love this!
Awe so cute :0)
Nice looking carrots!
Wow! The marzipan carrots really look like real carrots!!! I just tried to make carrot with fondant
These are so cute, I love them!
this looks so good. its so close to the real thing. funny thing is how complicated one thinks it is.. untill u see how its done
thanks
They do look like real carrots!! This is amzing, I’ve never done anything with marzipan before, you make it look so easy that i think I could do this!!
That is fabulous! They really do look real. That cocoa dirt is an inspiration for achieving a just-picked look. I will bookmark these for my next carrot cake.
Wow – you really put a lot of work into this. I appreciate the step-by-step. Now. What can I make? ; )
Love the “dirt”. GReat job.
Those are really, really cute! They look so delicious.