Yummy Marshmallow Fondant

Thought of the Day…We have always said that advertising is just the icing on the cake. It is not the cake. ~Meg Whitman

Ever tasted bland, yucky fondant? I have … I didn’t see the big deal about it… it looks nice, but tastes awful. Well, I found a solution!

Our favorite local bakery has some beautiful cakes and every time I’m in there or drive by I just think to myself I really want to learn how to make fondant. Their fondant wasn’t awful, but that didn’t help me as I want to make my own. Professionally done fondant cakes can be expensive.

I have been reading the Cakes by Dawn blog for a while (used to be Dawn’s Goodies) and she uses a Marshmallow Fondant (MMF or MM fondant) and says it tastes much better. I was intrigued. Dawn is completely self-taught in her cake decorating and she is VERY talented. If you want to see some creative cake decorating, stop by her blog and say “Hi, found you from TooMuchToDoSoLittleTime.com!” She’d love to hear from you. 😉

My friend CC came over last Friday. Plans were to make fondant for a cake I was going to make on Saturday to celebrate getting my new range. But as you read in my SNAFU post, I didn’t get the new range… thus didn’t get the cake made. Since I don’t know when I am going to get my new range, I decided to go ahead and post my first fondant experience.

Thanks to Dawn now have made marshmallow fondant for the first time. Want to know something? It was super easy!!! 😀

Initially, Dawn had copy and pasted a recipe she’d found on the web. Then I found some videos she had posted in her “How-To” section. I watched in awe how Pam from The Twisted Sifter Cake Shoppe in Danville, Kentucky made MM fondant. Her YouTube video (which I have embedded below) was amazingly easy to follow. It’s a little less than 10 minutes long and I watched it 3 times. The last time, I wrote down the instructions (this was before I found the recipe on her blog). The instructions in the video are different from her blog.

I have added a few bits of information and written it the way I made it.

Cast of Characters (they were all camera shy so no picture)
2 pounds Powdered Sugar, Sifted
16 ounces Marshmallows, mini
1/2 cup Shortening
3 Tablespoons Water, or flavoring

You’ll need a mixer with a dough hook. If you don’t have a dough hook, then you’ll be kneading this by hand and not laughing as much as CC and I were!!!

Remove all jewelry on hands and wrists! You’ll be glad you did!! 😉

Put marshmallows in large glass bowl and add 3 T water to marshmallows. If you want to flavor the fondant, substitute flavoring for the water.

Place marshmallows in microwave and cook for 1 min 30 seconds. While marshmallows are in microwave, put 1/2 cup shortening in mixing bowl. Add 2 pounds minus 1/2-1 cup of SIFTED powdered sugar to mixing bowl.

Dust flat surface with sifted powder sugar (like one would uses flour for a pastry).

Once marshmallows are done, stir them up a little bit to soften more and mix water. Take softened marshmallows and add to mixing bowl.
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Using mixer and dough hook, position hook so that the mixture does not go over dough hook. You may have to keep head of mixer lifted to prevent hook from being buried. If you have a “splatter” guard put it in place – you will be happy you did. Turn mixer on slowest speed. Again, you’ll be glad you did.

As it is mixing, you want to “knock” the powdered sugar off sides of bowl. Powdered sugar may “dust” up and this is where the “splatter” guard will be helpful. (I had to remove mine each time I took pictures, it’s sitting there to the right.) Continue mixing. Scrape sides as needed. If you want to color fondant all one color, add coloring now.
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Increase speed as necessary. This is where the dough hook comes in handy. wpid-IMG_4877-2010-09-22-13-42.jpgwpid-IMG_4878-2010-09-22-13-42.jpg

You don’t want to use mixer too long; it’s only to aid in mixing. Kneading is done by hand.
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Once ingredients are mixed, stop mixer and lift dough hook out of bowl. Use your fingers to get mixture off dough hook – mixture is very sticky.

Pour mixture out onto surface. Be sure to get all remaining pieces from mixing bowl.
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Start kneading just like you would bread dough. It was at this point I really wished I’d taken my ring off!!
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As you knead it the texture will change. If you have mixture sticking to countertop, use pastry scraper to remove.
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Fondant needs a lot of kneading (unlike bread dough). Keep kneading until you get to a soft and non-sticky ball.
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You do not want mixture to be sticky after kneading. If it gets too dry, add shortening to mixture in 1/8 tsp increments (or water if shortening doesn’t work).

When you have a soft smooth consistency you’re done.
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You need to double wrap it in cling wrap to keep air from getting to it. You can store it wrapped on the counter for a couple of weeks. If it is going to be longer than that, put in refrigerator. You can re-soften by putting in microwave for a few seconds at a time so that it is soft and you can re-knead it.
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See, it’s actually really easy to make fondant! 😀

Have you ever made fondant?
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To get a printer friendly copy of the recipe, go here. (If link doesn’t work it is because the recipe is still under review.)

Fondant, Marshmallow
——————————————————————————–
Serving Size: 12 Yield: 2.25 pounds
Notes: If possible, make up fondant the night before you need it. This will allow any leftover powdered sugar time to dissolve when you knead it again before use.

Summary:
Never have that expensive “nasty store-bought” fondant taste again. This tasty version is easy to make and great for making ahead of time.

Ingredients:
2 pounds Powdered Sugar, Sifted
16 ounces Marshmallows, mini
1/2 cup Shortening
3 Tablespoons Water, or flavoring

Directions:
1. Remove all jewelry on hands and wrists!

2. Put marshmallows in large glass bowl

3. Add 3 T water to marshmallows. If you want to flavor the fondant, substitute flavoring for the water.

4. Place marshmallows in microwave and cook for 1 min 30 seconds.

5. Dust flat surface with sifted powder sugar (like one would uses flour for a pastry).

6. While marshmallows are in microwave, put 1/2 cup shortening in mixing bowl.

7. Add 2 pounds minus 1/2-1 cup of SIFTED powdered sugar to mixing bowl.

8. Once marshmallows are done, stir them up a little bit to soften more and mix water.

9. Take softened marshmallows and add to mixing bowl.

10. Using mixer and dough hook, position hook so that the mixture does not go over dough hook. You may have to keep head of mixer lifted to prevent hook from being buried. If you have a “splatter” guard put it in place – you will be happy you did. Turn mixer on slowest speed.

11. As it is mixing, you want to “knock” the powdered sugar off sides of bowl. Powdered sugar may “dust” up and this is where the “splatter” guard will be helpful. Continue mixing.

12. If you want to color fondant all one color, add coloring now.

13. Increase speed as necessary.

14. Once ingredients are mixed, stop mixer and lift dough hook out of bowl. Use your fingers to get mixture off dough hook – mixture is very sticky.

15. Pour mixture out onto surface. Be sure to get all remaining pieces from mixing bowl.

16. Start kneading just like you would bread dough.

17. As you knead it the texture will change. If you have mixture sticking to countertop, use pastry scraper to remove. Unlike bread dough, fondant needs a lot of kneading to get to a soft and non-sticky ball. You do not want mixture to be sticky after kneading. If it gets too dry, add shortening to mixture in 1/8 tsp increments (or water if shortening doesn’t work).

18. When you have a soft smooth consistency you’re done. You need to double wrap it in cling wrap to keep air from getting to it.

19. You can store it out on the counter for a couple of weeks. If it is going to be longer than that, put in refrigerator. You can re-soften by putting in microwave for a few seconds at a time so that it is soft and you can re-knead it.

As promised, if you’d like to see the video of Pam making her fondant, check out this video