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Zephyr is a type of Russian homemade marshmallows recipe. These tasty confections are fluffy and literally just melt in your mouth. Learn how to make these homemade marshmallows with the easy video tutorial.
I have been working on perfecting this recipe for some time and these have the right fluffy consistency using real ingredients (no jell-o needed), and they have intense blackberry-lemon flavor. P.S. that beautiful pinky-purple hue is all natural from fresh blackberries and makes these completely irresistible!
The closest thing I could compare zephyr to are gourmet marshmallows. These are lightyears better than store-bought marshmallows and are stunning on party dessert tables. Think: showers, birthdays, tea parties, etc. Zephyr is the first thing people eye on a dessert table because it’s just so pretty!
This blackberry-leon zephir recipe was modified from Air Cake on youtube.
Watch How to Make Homemade Marshmallows:
This recipe is simple, but it is important to follow the process and have precise measurements. I have included all of my best tips to make sure you are successful the first time and every time!
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
Ingredients for Blackberry Puree:
2 cups (or 8 oz or 250 grams) blackberries
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 egg white, room temperature
For the Agar Agar Syrup:
1/3 cup (75 ml) water
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
2 tsp (5 grams) agar agar*
Powdered Sugar to dust
*Agar agar us a plant based thickener that works similarly to traditional unflavored pork-derived gelatin. It is kosher-friendly and doesn’t add any aroma or flavor especially when heated which is awesome!! It is available in natural and health-food stores like Rosauers, Whole foods and is reasonably priced on Amazon.
How to Make Homemade Marshmallows (Zephyr):
1. In a medium saucepan, bring blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice to a simmer. Mash berries and simmer uncovered 10 min then strain through fine sieve, pressing on solids with a spatula. Scrape the back of the sieve to get 1/2 cup or 125 grams of puree. Chill the puree over an ice bath until cooled.
2. Once puree is chilled and slightly thickened, combine it with 1 egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk.** Beat 8-10 min on high speed or until thick and stiff peaks form. While the blackberry/egg white mixture is whipping, proceed with step 3.
3. In a medium sauce pan, combine 1/3 cup water, 2 tsp agar agar and 1 cup sugar. Place over medium heat, bring to boil then reduce heat to a low boil and cook 5 min, whisking constantly until syrup has thickened and pours from a spoon without dribbling. Remove from heat.
4. With mixer on the LOWEST speed, and as soon as agar syrup is off the stove, immediately pour it in a thin stream into the whipped blackberry mixture. Avoid getting syrup on whisk and bowl. Scrape down the bowl and beat another 2-3 minutes on high speed until stiff peaks form.
5. Right away, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M large open star tip and pipe roses onto parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping them even in width/size.
6. Let stand in a draft free, low humidity, room temperature (70˚F) area, uncovered 6-12 hours, or overnight. Marshmallows will form a glossy film on top and will come off the parchment fairly easily, then match 2 halves together and roll sandwiched marshmallows in powdered sugar.
⬇ Print-Friendly Marshmallows Recipe (Zephyr) Recipe:
Homemade Marshmallows (Zephyr) VIDEO
Ingredients
For the Blackberry Puree:
- 2 cups or 8 oz or 250 grams blackberries
- 1/2 cup 100 grams granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 egg white, room temperature
For the Agar Agar Syrup:
- 1/3 cup 75 ml water
- 1 cup 200 grams sugar
- 2 tsp 5 grams agar agar*
- Powdered Sugar to dust
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice to a simmer. Mash berries and simmer uncovered 10 min then strain through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids with a spatula. Scrape off the back of the sieve to ensure you have 1/2 cup or 125 grams of puree. Chill the puree over an ice bath until cooled.
- Once puree is fully chilled and slightly thickened, combine it with 1 egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment.** Beat on 8-10 min on high speed or until mixture is thick and stiff peaks form. While the blackberry/egg white mixture is going, proceed with step 3.
- In a medium sauce pan, stir together 1/3 cup water, 2 tsp agar agar and 1 cup sugar. Place over medium heat, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a low boil and cook 5 minutes, whisking constantly until syrup has thickened and pours from a spoon without dribbling. Remove from heat.
- With the mixer on the LOWEST speed, and as soon as agar syrup is off the stove, immediately pour it in a thin stream into whipped blackberry mixture. Avoid getting syrup on whisk and bowl. Once syrup is in, scrape down the bowl and beat another 2-3 min on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Right away, transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M large open star tip and pipe roses onto parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping the roses even in width/size.
- Let homemade marshmallows stand in a draft free, low humidity, room temperature area (70˚F), uncovered for 6-12 hours, or overnight. Marshmallows will form a glossy film on top and will come off the parchment fairly easily. Once set, match 2 halves together then roll sandwiched marshmallows powdered sugar.
Notes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Regarding the use of raw egg whites: Always use eggs that have a whole, un-cracked shell from a trustworthy source. This method is similar to an Italian Buttercream where adding the hot syrup partially tempers the egg white, but if you want to take extra caution especially if pregnant or elderly, you can try using pasteurized egg whites, although from my research, it may take longer to beat the mixture if egg white is pasteurized.
I hope you all love these and find the video tutorial helpful! If you make these (or any recipes from my site), I now have an awesome new spot where my readers can share their yummy photos! You’re invited to join my closed VIP cooking group on Facebook!
Hi Natasha, I want to make these for a boy baby shower I am giving. Can I substitute blueberries for blackberries? If you think that will work, would Fresh lemon juice (Meyer 🍋?) be best, or fresh key lime juice? Thanks these are so beautiful, and I am a “foodie”, but have never heard of, or seen them before. It sounds to me like, if a Meringue and a Gourmet Marshmallow had a delicious baby-this would be it. I think I will serve mine singly, not doubled up, so they can sit flat. Since it has egg white in it, is there a salmonella risk? Should they be refrigerated? Thanks so much! This is my 1st “Grand” , so I want it to be especially memorable 💙👍🏼
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tried blueberries so I really can’t advise on that. I love it with fresh lemon juice. Ha ha I love your comparison – that sounds about right! 🙂 Single will still be beautiful and just as delicious ofcourse. Make sure to read my note about the egg whites towards the bottom of the post which should help :). Congratulations on your first “Grand”!! 🙂 So excited for you!!
Hello Natasha,
Do you know why they might not dry completely? Its been over 12 hrs…. I think I did my agar syrup wrong(. It wasnt thikening, so I kept cooking it for another like 4 minuets.. It still looked a little runny when I added it to the rest of the mixture…. Any suggestions? Thank you!!
Btw, I love your recipies! This is the only site I cook from).
Hi Oksana, did you do anything different in the process or measurements? The marshmallows aren’t supposed to dry completely – you still want them to be very soft inside, but form a thin film over the top so they should not stick to your fingers when you touch them. I hope that helps! Also, if you use a much smaller deep saucepan, there would be less surface area and you would need to cook the syrup a little longer, but I’m wondering if maybe you had too much water in the mixture if it took that long? Also, did you cook the berry mixture long enough for it to get slightly thickened and not watery? Did you use something besides blackberry syrup or use more than 1/2 cup of it?
I tried to use about the same pan size you had in the video… I think maybe I did add slightly more water.. I’ll try to make this again, hopefully it’ll turn out. I love zephyr, and tried many recipies before. Never turned out correctly. I was excited when you posted this recipie, because your recipies always turn out very good!). The zephyr looked very good when I was piping it. The only thing was that it didn’t get that film on top; and was sticking to my fingers. I am pretty sure my agar agar was wrong…. I’ll give t another try. Thank you for your suggestions!! 😘
Hi Oksana, also, make sure you are using agar agar powder and not the regular unflavored gelatin like the Knox brand that you can find in most grocer stores. This recipe is intended to be used with the agar agar only. I had one other reader report not so great results with regular gelatin when trying to substitute. I hope that helps!
Finally, zephir! Thank you, Natasha. I have been craving for them for so long. Can’t wait to try the recipe.
You are welcome Olga, it was simpler than I anticipated. Let me know how it turns out 😬.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.Yes its simple recipe then I have.I have the 1 w/jello. I saw u didn’t put on parchment paper no powdered sugar,but on my recipe u have to other wise it will be hard to get them out,is that true though?
Hi Olga, once it is set, they come off fairly easily from the parchment. I do not sprinkle with powdered sugar because I want the flat side to adhere to a second half. If you make it completely non-sticky, the two sides won’t stay together. I hope you love this version! 🙂
Super cool! This looks so fun. Want to try it!
They are fun AND delicious! Please let me know what you think Katherine!
Looks delicious! My husband doesn’t really like the blackberrries. Do you think I can sub with raspberries?
Hi Olga, one of my readers just said she used raspberries with great results. 🙂
You can use apples too, I use apples 🙂
Can you use this instead of frosting for a cake? Also, do you have to use blackberries?
I think this would work instead of frosting for a cake, but you would need to either pipe or spread it right away since it does get more difficult to spread and pipe as the mixture sits. If you want to make it for a cake, be sure the rest of your cake is ready to assemble once the marshmallow cream is done. Now I’m really curious about what you’re planning! Keep me posted!
If using it as a frosting for the cake the procedure would be the same to keep it at the room temperature or can it be placed in the fridge?
I would keep it at room temperature without refrigerating. Keep that in mind with however you are making your cake – you might avoid ingredients that would spoil at room temperature such as fruit purees, etc.
I am so excited about this recipe!! My husbands favorite! I’ve been wanting to make these for so long!! Love the video! I’m a visual learner so those help me a lot. Question, can I use other berries like strawberry or blue berry? I have lots of those in my fridge right now.
Thanks again!
I do think different kinds of berries would work, but you may need varying amounts since some berries are juicier than others and you may need to cook them slightly longer if your berry juice looks very watery. Make sure you are not adding more than half a cup of berries syrup and the berry syrup should be slightly thickened (not watery) even before you cool it. One of my readers reported great results using raspberries and even posted a picture on my new Facebook group page. Let me know if you experiment with anything else.
These look so amazing! So beautiful! I’m planning on having a tea party soon, and these would be perfect!
They taste as good as they look too! Please let me know what you and your guests think!
Oh my… these look amazing! I’ve been making them for years from Leascooking blog. This recipe looks so much better… cuz no artifical colors or flavors invloved!! Yay!! Cannot wait to make these.
Hi Svetlana! I haven’t tried that one but I do also love that this recipe is all-natural and that beautiful color and flavor is from fresh berries. They really are addictively delicious! 🙂 I hope you love them!
Two questions. Do these taste more like meringue than traditional homemade marshmallows?
Also, can you safely double the batch using one bowl, or is it best to make one batch at a time?
Hi Rebecca, because these expand quite a bit as they whip, it is best to make one batch at a time so the mixture whips properly and doesn’t overwhelm the mixer. It doesn’t really “taste” like either one. It has a unique and amazing fresh blackberry flavor – they are cloudlike and fluffy – softer and more melt-in-your mouth than regular marshmallows.
Natasha, have you tried this recipe with frozen blackberries?
Hi Zhanna, frozen blackberries should work just as well.
Wow awesome recipe. I love zefir. Will gelatin work? Instead of agar agar?
Hi Victoriya, this recipe is intended for agar agar and that is the only way I have tested it and I’m assuming you would have to make some modifications with regular unflavored gelatin. I love the agar agar because it doesn’t have any scent when heated which I have noticed when working with unflavored gelatin which is a pork-based product.
Hi Natasha,
I really love your recipes and videos. I cook a lot and really appreciate that your videos are short and to the point. I tried several of your recipes and they are very delicious. I really like your happy, joking attitude. You are super! I kind of miss that music you used to have before with the ukuleles and whistling. Wish you lots of success in this field.
Thanks you for following and leaving such a thoughtful review! I will note your music preference! 🙂
Oh my goodness these are STUNNING! On our last trip to Russia I was reminded how delicious they could be! My kids couldn’t stop eating dark chocolate covered zefir in Saint Petersburg but I am sure your homemade ones are miles tastier though! Heavenly!
OH MY GOODNESS! Dark chocolate covered zephyr sounds crazy amazing! Thanks for the idea!
I have been looking for this recipe for a long time! Have tried several and hope this will do the trick;)
Question can I use frozen fruit?
Hi Sveta, frozen blackberries should work just as well. I hope you love the recipe! 🙂
Guess what I’ll be making in the next couple of hours. Will let you know how it goes. Thank you for posting just when I was gonna go looking for my recipe. I know I won’t be disappointed
Oh what perfect timing! I hope you love the recipe!! 🙂
OMG how timely! Thank you thank you thank you for the recipe!
My pleasure Marina! Please let me know what you think! 🙂
These look so pretty! We have so many blackberries growing wild around our horse paddocks, and I like to make apple & blackberry pie, or blackberry jam. When blackberry season comes around again, I’ll definitely be adding these to my list!
They are as good as they look too! Please let me know what you think Roz!
Wow, this is definitely something I want to try. I love meringue and I also love marshmallows, so best combination here!
It is divine! Please let me know what you think Jenny!