SC - Almond Paste

[DianaFiona at aol.com]

In a message dated 09/14/1999 12:02:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
harper at idt.net writes:

<< 
   However, I am concerned about the fact that the store-bought 
 was much more strongly almond-flavored.  Several of the recipes I found 
 on the web suggest that almond paste needs to "mature" for a week or 
 more until the flavor develops.  One suggested that the impatient could 
 add almond extract, if they wanted to use the paste right away.  Have 
 you found that the flavor strengthens with age?  And do you need to 
 store the finished product in the fridge?
 
  Brighid >>
    Yes, definitely refrigerate it! I'm not sure about the flavor developing 
with time, though, since I've always added rosewater to mine, which would 
mask the natural almond flavoring. I *think*, though, that at least some of 
the commercial almond pastes/marzipans I've seen have almond flavoring added 
to them, so if you are judging your flavor expectations by commercial 
products that might explain why it seems a bit bland to you. On the other 
hand, for an almond cake, you'd probably need to add some of the almond 
flavoring to achieve a strong enough taste to be discernible, anyway, so it 
won't hurt anything to use some in the paste as well as the batter. The cake 
sounds yummy, BTW! Let us know how it turns out. :-)

                    Ldy Diana
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