Friday, April 2, 2010

Marshmallow Fondant

When I took Wilton's cake decorating classes two years back, I took 'Fondant and Gumpaste' class also. I bought wilton fondant for the first class. Everyone in the class was talking about how bad it tastes and no one really wants to eat the fondant and all that stuff. I started wondering why am I even here in the class if this is the case with fondant. Then I came to know about 'Marshmallow Fondant' which many people seem to like since it taste like as the name says 'Marshmallows'.  Another reason why I started making this at home was the cost. It costs $11 for a pack of 3 lbs of wilton fondant even when you use coupons (I might be wrong with the price, this was 2 years back). It costs 3 dollars to make the same at home and it takes one bowl, one spatula and 15 minutes or less. (I usually make my husband help me knead this and it gets done within 5 minutes)

I have never eaten marshmallows because of the presence of 'Gelatin' in it. I have, however taken vitamins which has gelatin in it and have eaten yogurt when in the hospital which has gelatin too. This is the only exception where I use Marshmallows in the house for making fondant. I usually don't cover the cake with fondant since many people do not like the chewy texture of it. I make decorations out of this (which I dry and take it out before serving the cake) and I needed some to make my kid's cake next week. This is not my recipe, but you can find it in many places on the internet. If you google 'Marshmallow Fondant', you probably will get at least 10 hits with the same kind of recipe with little changes.

Ingredients:
  • Mini Marshmallows - 1 bag of 16 Oz (Make sure it is 16 Oz and not 10.5 Oz and do not buy jet puffed brand)
  • Confectioner's sugar - 2 lb bag. (You may not need all of it)
  • Water - 2 TBSP
  • Glycerine - 1 TBSP (You can get this in Michaels, A.C Moore in cake isle. If you can't get it, leave it out. It helps in pliability)
  • Butter extract - 1 tsp or more Use clear extract. You can use vanilla or almond or a combination
  • Food color - Optional (I leave mine white since I can color them later)
  • salt - 1 tsp (Grind them fine)
  • Shortening - 1/4 cup (You'll not need all of it)

Method:
Take a microwave safe bowl large enough to hold marshmallows. Grease it well with shortening or vegetable oil spray. Spray a strong wooden spoon with vegetable oil spray and set aside. To the 2 TBSP water, add salt and let it dissolve. Add this water, glycerine, flavorings to the marshmallows. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir and microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir and the marshmallows should have melted. If not repeat for 10 seconds and not more.

Now, stir very well and add half of the confectioner's sugar from the bag. Stir with wooden spoon. Add more if you can stir.

When you can no longer stir with the wooden spoon, remove the wooden spoon and grease your hands very well with shortening. Make sure you have greased between the fingers and removed all your jewellery. Start kneading like you knead the bread dough or chapathi dough. Add more sugar, knead. If it sticks, coat your hands with more shortening. Fondant is ready when it is no longer sticky. You might be left with some sugar in the bag or if you dumped all and started kneading, in the bowl. Don't try to knead too much as it causes dry fondant.

It'll still be soft and will get hard like play-dough once it has set for 24 hours. Coat the fondant generously with shortening and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. I usually wrap in cling wrap and then the next layer will be a press and seal and then it goes into a ziploc bag.

This lasts for a month at room temperature and can be frozen up to 6 months. I needed very less fondant for making decorations and that is the reason I divided them into one big and one small ball. Big ball will go to the freezer and the small ball will get used within next week.

Always make this at least 24 hours before using. 
Stay tuned for the decorations using this. Those who do not want to use this since it has gelatin, don't worry. I do have another recipe that I need to convert to using Agar-Agar. I'll post that recipe later.

Have a good weekend!! Pin It

17 comments:

  1. I cannot wait for the decorations :)

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  2. Wow!! Sounds great to make fondant at home! Waiting for the other recipe without the marshmallows!!

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  3. Iam new to your blog..

    I cant wait to see what decorations you make out of this fondant...

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  4. I tried once this fondant, thanks for sharing, will be very helpful for many of us..

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  5. BangaloreBaker,

    I have an award for you in my blog, please get it :)

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  6. I have never heard of fondant made from marshmallow.It sounds new.Will book mark this recipe.

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  7. Glad I checked your blog today....from last few weeks was thinking about making/using some fondant even bought some from Michael's(using 50% coupons...but still it costs a lot....saving the receipt in case if I change my mind & return it)...read about Marshmallows fondant on the net...do have most of the stuff at home.....now let's see if I can find some time too......as i'm still experimanting with B.cream receipes....

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  8. I love the idea however, how could this end up on a vegetarian web page? Every marshmallow has gelatin and as far as I know all gelatin is meat based. Please tell me if I'm wrong, my veggie kids would love to find vegetarian marshmallows!

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  9. Anonymous,
    Yes, I do know that marshamallows have gelatin in it. I posted the recipe for those who don't mind using it. I use this fondant for decoration not for eating.

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  10. Champa, I want to make this for my son's b'day cake. but I have some queries.
    first, can I use regular icing sugar for this? we only get weikfield's icing sugar here.
    2. also for shortening can we substitute it with Dalda? or do you think plain vegetable oil could also work.

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    Replies
    1. Sayantani,
      Yes, regular icing sugar will work fine. You could use dalda in place of shortening, but I am not sure about vegetable oil. It might work since it is just to increase the pliability and ease of working with it. If you try oil, let me know how it turned out.

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  11. definitely Champa. am too excited to try this and too scared to mess it.

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  12. most of ur cakes are made of which fondant either marshmallow or vegan fondant and when it comes to taste which one would u recommend.
    are both the fondants can be made less than 10 minutes

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    Replies
    1. I don't usually cover the cakes with fondant. I use fondant for decoration and Marshamallow fondant is easier to work with than vegan fondant. Taste is same sugary, chewy feel. Yes, if you plan properly, you can make either in 10 minutes.

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  13. I would like to make this recipe but I am curious as to how much (in cups) fondant this version makes?
    Do you have any measurement of the final product?
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. I know in weight, but not in cups. It makes about 3 pounds approximately. That should be definitely more than 3 cups if not more.

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If you have a question and you leave it as a comment, I'll surely answer the question to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for visiting.