She Takes The Cake

Emily L-O-V-E-S to watch Jon & Kate Plus Eight and Cake Boss on Monday nights. A month or so back, the Gosselins got to go to Ace of Cakes and decorate cakes using fondant. Afterward, she was begging to make fondant. I'd never used it before, but had seen the pre-made dough for sale at Michael's. I did some research and discovered that it was not only spendy, but not very appetizing. We came across an easy recipe for marshmallow fondant that got good reviews, so I agreed to give it a try.

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows (use a good quality brand)

2 to 5 tablespoons water

2 pounds icing sugar (please use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results)

1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)


Generously grease your mixer bowl and dough atttchment.

NOTE: Please be careful, this first stage can get hot.

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total.

Pour marshmallows into mixer bowl and add 3/4 of the powdered sugar. And begin kneading. If the mixture is too sticky, add a bit more powdered sugar. If it's too stiff, add a bit of water.

It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

We made two batches since Emily needed two colors. The first we colored blue with food coloring. The second we added chocolate chips to the hot marshmallow mix to make brown.

When you roll out the fondant to cover the "dirty frosted" (covered with a layer of buttercream) cake, make sure to generously grease and powder every surface that will come in contact with the dough. For an 8-inch cake, roll the dough into a 14-inch circle. Ours was too thick this first time, but I was a little nervous about getting it too thin, lol. When rolled to desired size, roll around the pin to lift, then unroll over the cake.

Miss Em was delighted how our first attempt at using fondant turned out.