What Is Frangipane? Almond Cream Filling Explained
What is frangipane? Frangipane is a sweet almond cream made with butter, sugar, eggs and ground almonds (and sometimes a little flour). It's baked as a filling in tarts such as a Bakewell tart, fruit tarts and France's galette des rois. It isn't marzipan.
At a glance
- Almondsground almonds are the flavour base
- Bakewelljam + frangipane in shortcrust pastry
- Not marzipansoft bakeable cream, not a firm paste
- 55gcarbs per serving in Good Food's Bakewell tart
On this page
It turns up under Bakewell tarts, apricot tarts and Epiphany cakes, but what is frangipane, exactly? This guide explains what the almond cream is made from, how it differs from marzipan, where it sits in a Bakewell tart versus a Bakewell pudding, and how French bakers use it in a galette des rois. If you're baking with almonds, our guide to whether almond flour is the same as ground almonds is a useful companion.
What is frangipane?
Frangipane is a sweet almond-flavoured cream used in French and British pastry. BBC Food describes frangipane (or frangipani) as an almond-flavoured sweet pastry cream used in desserts, sweets, cakes and pancakes, made with milk, sugar, flour, eggs and butter mixed with either crushed macaroons or ground almonds. BBC Good Food calls it a creamy mixture of ground almonds, butter, sugar and eggs that is often used to fill tarts, sometimes with halved stone fruit such as apricots or plums baked on top.
Wikipedia places it in French patisserie and lists uses that include the Bakewell tart, the Jésuite and the galette des rois. In short: it is a soft, almondy filling that sets when baked, not a rolled paste and not a finished tart on its own.
Where does the name come from?
The word is French. Wikipedia says frangipane comes ultimately from the surname of Marquis Muzio Frangipani, and that the word first denoted the frangipani plant, from which was produced the perfume originally said to flavour frangipane. Other accounts say 16th-century Parisian chefs borrowed the name in honour of a jasmine-scented glove perfume. The first written record Wikipedia cites is a French cookbook from 1674, spelt franchipane, describing a custard tart flavoured with pounded almonds and pistachios.
Pronunciation varies. Wikipedia gives FRAN-jih-pan or FRAN-jih-payn; BBC Good Food writes fran-jee-pan-ee. Both are used in UK kitchens.
BBC Food lists both spellings. In cooking, either usually means the almond cream. The plant called frangipani is a separate thing: a tropical flower whose perfume is part of the name's history.
What goes into frangipane?
Home bakers and pastry chefs aren't always talking about exactly the same mixture. Wikipedia says traditional French frangipane combines two parts almond cream (crème d'amande) with one part pastry cream (crème pâtissière). Almond cream uses butter, sugar, eggs, almond meal, bread flour and rum; pastry cream uses milk, vanilla, cornflour, sugar, eggs and butter.
British recipes are often simpler. BBC Good Food's basic frangipane is:
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Butter | 100g |
| Golden caster sugar | 100g |
| Eggs | 2 |
| Ground almonds | 140g |
| Plain flour | 75g |
From BBC Good Food's frangipane glossary. Method: beat the butter until creamy, beat in the sugar, add the eggs gradually, then stir in the almonds and flour. Checked 5 November 2026.
Esther Clark's Bakewell tart for BBC Good Food uses a similar filling without the flour: 100g salted butter, 100g caster sugar, 150g ground almonds, 1 tsp almond extract and 2 medium eggs, spread over jam in a blind-baked shortcrust case and topped with flaked almonds.
UK shops sell ground almonds in the baking aisle. They are usually blanched almonds ground to a pale powder — the same thing most recipes mean by almond flour. See our almond flour vs ground almonds guide.
Frangipane vs marzipan
They both taste of almonds, which is why people mix them up, but they behave differently in the kitchen.
| Frangipane | Marzipan | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Soft almond cream | Firm almond paste |
| Main extras | Butter and eggs | Sugar (and sometimes syrup) |
| Texture | Spoonable, then baked | Rollable and mouldable |
| Typical use | Tart and pastry fillings | Covering cakes, sweets |
Based on BBC Food, BBC Good Food and Wikipedia's Frangipane entry. Checked 5 November 2026.
Frangipane has to be baked because of the eggs. Marzipan is usually used raw as a covering or modelling paste. In a British Bakewell it's frangipane you're after, not a sheet of marzipan.
Frangipane and the Bakewell tart
In the UK, the pastry most people meet frangipane in is the Bakewell tart. Wikipedia describes a Bakewell tart as a shortcrust pastry shell filled with layers of raspberry jam and frangipane, topped with flaked almonds, and calls it a variant of the earlier Bakewell pudding from Bakewell in Derbyshire.
The pudding came first. Wikipedia says references to Bakewell pudding appear earlier than Bakewell tart, which entered common usage in the 20th century. A Bakewell pudding has a flaky pastry base with sieved jam topped with an egg-and-almond filling. Eliza Acton published a Bakewell pudding recipe in 1845, and Mrs Beeton later published versions too. A common origin story credits a cook who spread the almond mixture over the jam instead of stirring it into the pastry; Wikipedia notes that the dates in that story are debated.
| Bakewell tart | Bakewell pudding | |
|---|---|---|
| Pastry | Shortcrust | Flaky / puff style |
| Filling | Jam + frangipane | Jam + egg-almond set |
| Top | Flaked almonds, sometimes icing | Usually plain |
| When | 20th-century name in common use | Recipes from the 1830s–1840s |
Based on Wikipedia's Bakewell tart and Bakewell pudding entries. Checked 5 November 2026.
So if someone asks whether frangipane is the same as a Bakewell tart, the answer is no: frangipane is the almond cream inside. The tart is the whole pastry — case, jam, frangipane and topping.
Other ways frangipane is used
Beyond Bakewell, frangipane turns up in several classic bakes:
- Fruit tarts. BBC Good Food suggests baking halved apricots or plums on top of the almond cream.
- Galette des rois. Wikipedia describes the French kings' cake eaten at Epiphany as a round cake made of frangipane layers, with a special bean hidden inside. Whoever gets the piece with the bean is crowned king or queen for the following year.
- Other almond pastries. Similar cream fillings sit inside puff pastry rounds such as a pithivier, or under cherries and berries.
Our guide to what a Madeira cake is covers another British teatime classic with a close crumb.
Carbs in frangipane and Bakewell tart
Most of the carbohydrate in a frangipane tart comes from the sugar and the wheat flour in the pastry (and any flour in the filling), not from the almonds. CoFID, the UK's food composition tables, lists ground almonds (flaked and ground, code 14-870) at 6.9g carbohydrate per 100g, of which 4.2g is sugars, against 80.9g in plain white flour (11-886).
| Carbs | Sugars | kcal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground almonds, per 100g | 6.9g | 4.2g | 612 |
| Plain white flour, per 100g | 80.9g | 0.6g | 352 |
| Good Food Bakewell, per serving | 55g | 31g | 572 |
CoFID 2021: Almonds, flaked and ground (14-870) and White flour, plain (11-886). Bakewell figures as published by BBC Good Food for Esther Clark's Bakewell tart (cuts into 8). UK carbohydrate figures don't include fibre. Checked 5 November 2026.
A 30g portion of ground almonds has about 2.1g of carbohydrate. The sugar and pastry are what push a classic Bakewell serving into the 50g+ range.
If you're cutting carbs
Traditional frangipane depends on sugar, and a Bakewell tart also needs wheat pastry and jam. If it's the almond flavour you're after, a few of our products are worth knowing about — they aren't frangipane or Bakewell tarts.
Our Keto Vanilla Cake Mix is made with almond flour, organic coconut flour, whey protein, erythritol and stevia; method and tin sizes are on the product page. For a citrus sponge, our Keto Lemon Cake Mix uses almond flour, coconut flour, whey protein and lemon powder — whisk 3 eggs with 80g melted butter, stir in the mix and bake in an 8-inch tin or as 12 cupcakes.
For pastry experiments, our keto pastry guide uses ground almonds with butter, egg, xanthan gum and psyllium. A dusting of our Powdered Erythritol & Stevia Blend can stand in for icing sugar on a cooled bake. For a soft sponge, see our keto Victoria sponge recipe.
Product details are as shown on each product page. Free delivery on orders over £30. Last order date for Christmas delivery: 18 December 2026.
Frangipane and Bakewell tarts contain almonds (a tree nut) and eggs, and usually wheat and milk from the pastry and butter. Our Vanilla Cake Mix and Lemon Cake Mix contain almonds and milk (whey); you make them with eggs and butter. They contain erythritol, a polyol, and excessive consumption of polyols may produce laxative effects. Always check the pack for full allergen information.
Key takeaways
- Frangipane is an almond cream. Butter, sugar, eggs and ground almonds, baked until set.
- It isn't marzipan. Marzipan is a firm paste; frangipane is spoonable and baked.
- Bakewell tarts use it. Shortcrust, jam, frangipane and flaked almonds.
- Almonds aren't the carb problem. CoFID lists ground almonds at 6.9g carbs per 100g; sugar and pastry add most of the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What is frangipane made of?
BBC Good Food's basic frangipane uses butter, golden caster sugar, eggs, ground almonds and a little plain flour. Wikipedia describes traditional French frangipane as almond cream mixed with pastry cream. Home recipes often skip the pastry cream and bake a simple almond cream of butter, sugar, eggs and ground almonds.
Is frangipane the same as marzipan?
No. Frangipane is a soft, bakeable almond cream of butter, sugar, eggs and ground almonds. Marzipan is a firm paste of ground almonds and sugar that you roll or model, and it isn't usually baked as a filling. They share almonds and sweetness, but the texture and how you use them are different.
Is frangipane the same as a Bakewell tart?
No. Frangipane is the almond cream filling. A Bakewell tart is a shortcrust pastry case with jam and frangipane, often finished with flaked almonds. Wikipedia lists the Bakewell tart among the pastries that use frangipane, so the cream is one part of the tart rather than the whole thing.
How do you pronounce frangipane?
Wikipedia gives the pronunciation as FRAN-jih-pan or FRAN-jih-payn. BBC Good Food writes it as fran-jee-pan-ee. You'll hear both versions in UK kitchens and cookery shows. The word comes from the French name for almond-flavoured products, itself linked to the Italian Frangipani family name.
Does frangipane need to be cooked?
Yes. Because it contains eggs, frangipane is baked until set and golden. Wikipedia notes that traditional French frangipane also includes pastry cream. Once baked in a tart, it keeps for a few days in an airtight tin; for shop-bought tarts, follow the date and storage advice on the pack.
Sources
- BBC Food. Frangipane recipes (definition and ingredients). Checked 5 November 2026.
- BBC Good Food. Frangipane glossary (definition, basic ingredients and method, pronunciation guide). Checked 5 November 2026.
- BBC Good Food. Bakewell tart by Esther Clark (filling ingredients, method and nutrition per serving). Checked 5 November 2026.
- Wikipedia. Frangipane (definition, traditional almond cream plus pastry cream, etymology, pronunciation, galette des rois and listed pastries). Checked 5 November 2026.
- Wikipedia. Bakewell tart and Bakewell pudding (history, pastry types, Acton 1845). Checked 5 November 2026.
- Public Health England / Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Composition of foods integrated dataset (CoFID) 2021 (codes 14-870 and 11-886). Checked 5 November 2026.
- Groovy Keto product pages: Keto Vanilla Cake Mix, Keto Lemon Cake Mix, Powdered Erythritol & Stevia Blend and Xanthan Gum (ingredients, method and allergens). Checked 5 November 2026.
