What I Learned/Works for Me... Marshmallow Fondant

Several weeks before the big dual birthday party for the kids, I began talking to them about birthday cakes. I told them we could either do one big cake or two separate ones. Lucky me, they chose separate.

I mean that, actually. I love the cake decorating process so it was twice the fun for me.

Sarah and I began talking about her cake. First she mentioned a Cinderella cake. (Meh.) Then she came up with wanting butterflies and flowers. I immediately came up with a design in my head. But the only way I could picture it was going to have to involve fondant.

Problem.

I’d never used fondant before.

But I was willing and excited to try. Seriously, how hard could it be?

So my mind was made up. I was going to be experimenting with fondant. I watched for Hobby Lobby to put out one of its 40% off coupons, bought Wilton fondant and asked a few fellow foodies to share any words of wisdom.

Then while on Twitter one day (I’m sure while I should have been working) I mentioned the cakes I was going to be working on. Someone asked me if I was using buttercream or fondant and I replied that I would be trying my hand at fondant. Then she mentioned having used marshmallow fondant recently and how much better it tasted.

I was intrigued. This I had not heard of before.

So I did as I’m prone to do. Research. I researched just a little bit and came across a posting on the Wilton forums that included a recipe. And here was the great thing…. I was going to be able to make this fondant that would taste better out of stuff already in my pantry and be able to take back the expensive purchased fondant. I was beyond excited about that prospect.

So here’s how to make it and some tips I picked up in my experience:

Marshmallow Fondant
(For in depth instructions and step by step pictures, visit the recipe on my recipe blog.)

Ingredients:

1 cup mini marshmallows (packed)
1 tablespoon water
1 ½ - 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar
Gel color

Method:

To measure the marshmallows, pack them down and put as many marshmallows as possible into the measuring cup. Place the marshmallows in a heatproof bowl; add the water and place in the microwave for 20-30 seconds or until the marshmallows begin to puff up. Remove from microwave and stir; it should be starting to get soupy. If you care to color the whole batch, add your color to the melted marshmallows at this point.

Sift and knead in the powdered sugar about ¼ - ½ cup at a time; first kneading with your spoonula/spatula and then with your hand but keeping it in the bowl. You will add at least 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar. Stop adding the sugar when you can form it into a ball in your hands dusted with a little bit of powdered sugar and it does not stick to them.


Working with the fondant:

I first ice my cake in similarly colored butter cream icing. I hated the idea of having a colored fondant with white butter cream between it and the cake.

When rolling it out, use your powdered sugar like you would flour when rolling out sugar cookies or pie pastry. Dust your counter top with the sugar and keep it well dusted so that it does not stick.

To transfer the fondant to the cake, roll it up on your rolling pin (I just used my wooden one - nothing special here), then unroll it over the cake and form it down over the cake using your sugared hands.



I had trouble at the bottom of my round cake with the fondant stretching out and creating these folds. It was easy to cover up with the rest of the decorating I was going to do. This is something that I think I will figure out with time and practice.



Don’t worry too much about there being powdered sugar on it after you have placed the fondant on your cake. When covered, the powdered sugar soaks on into the fondant and your color is left vibrant.

Keeping your finished cake covered keeps the fondant moist and tender. If you want it to dry, then leave the cake uncovered.

When you are all done, you'll need to MOP your floor. Powdered sugar will likely be everywhere.


Storage:

Store the fondant in a zip top baggie.


Overall Impressions:

This is definitely a better way to go than the purchased fondant. It tastes better and is easier on the wallet without a whole lot of effort. I personally much prefer spending less on something that one 3 year old at our party scraped off the cake and put entirely in her mouth than spending more on something that most kids would spit out.

I learned a lot and I learned that Marshmallow Fondant definitely works for me!

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For other What I Learned... posts, go visit Musings of a Housewife.

For other Works for me Wednesday posts, go visit We are THAT Family.