Frangipane is a sweet almond-based custard used in cakes, pies, and other pastries. It’s often served in the form of a tart with raspberries, which was the inspiration for this cocktail from the inimitable Simon Difford. Though it was originally called the Raspberry Frangipane Spritz, we discovered in testing that it’s delightful with other berries you might find in such a tart, like strawberries or blackberries.
This is one of a series of pastry-inspired cocktails Difford created for one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chains, all of them making brilliant use of butterscotch liqueur and other sweet liqueurs for a realistic pastry flavor. In all of them, the sweetness of the liqueurs is kept in check with dry sparkling wine and sparkling water. Even in this drink, with five sweet liqueurs, the technique holds true; the final drink is not nearly as sweet as the ingredient list would have you believe.
