Frangipane cream is an almond flour-based cream, combined with sugar, butter, eggs, and optionally other flavors. In France, frangipane cream is used in many desserts, including the famous Christmas (Epiphany) dessert “La galette des Rois,” a puff pastry tart filled with soft frangipane cream.

The name of the cream comes from the Italian surname “Frangipani,” and there are several theories about the origin of the recipe:
a 16th-century pastry chef created an aromatic liqueur with a similar flavor;
the cream recipe was given by Count Cesare Frangipani to Catherine de’ Medici on the occasion of her marriage to the future king of France;
Muzio Frangipani, an Italian botanist, visited the Antilles in 1493 and taught the sailors accompanying him that the “delicious” smell near Antigua came from a shrub (Plumeria alba), whose common name became “frangipani”;
According to a tradition of the Franciscan Family, the origin of frangipane is linked to Giacoma de Settesoli (†1236), a young widow of the Roman noble Graziano di Frangipani, Lord of Marino. A friend of St. Francis, she used to give him almond sweets.
Frangipane cream is very versatile, often used to fill cakes, tarts, croissants, and petits fours, and is very simple to prepare. The recipe is by Luca Montersino and is also easy to remember as the weight of the eggs, sugar, almonds, and butter are equal.

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