How to Make Marshmallow Fondant

 

Marshmallow fondant is easy to make and pretty fun to use. You can cover cakes and cookies with it to give them a smooth professional-looking finish or you can cut out shapes and designs to decorate your icing with. Its cheaper to make your own fondant than it is to buy it pre-made plus the pre-made stuff tastes a bit like cardboard unless you are willing to pay for a very high end product. 

All you need is:

1. Marshmallows - they can be big marshmallows or mini ones, either one works fine.
2. Icing sugar - You'll be mixing the icing sugar into the marshmallows to make a dough so I usually make sure that I have an entire bag on hand.. but I rarely use the whole bag.
3. Food colouring
4. Flavoring oil - This is optional. If you don't add this your fondant will be sweet and flavorless which works well if your got all the flavors your want in your cake already

This time I decided to make it with those mini fruit flavored marshmallows. I had to sort them by colour first. I figured they would add a little bit of flavor to the fondant so I wouldn't have to add much flavoring oil.

I use gel colours to dye my fondant but regular food colouring will work too. You won't be able to get really dark colours without making your fondant sticky, but for lighter colours you can just even it out with more icing sugar.

I also had lemon oil and coconut flavoring on hand.. oh la la the value brand  (which still works fine).

Step One:

Take a couple of handfuls of marshmallows and put them in a microwave safe bowl. Add a couple of drops of water and toss the marshmallows in it until they are all a bit damp. If you are going to just make one colour then put the whole bag of marshmallows in the bowl and add a couple of teaspoons of water. If you're going to put flavoring oil in, add it now and add less water

I like to make smaller batches because its easier to add the colour to the melted marshmallow than it is to work the colour into the fondant later.

Step Two:

Stick the marshmallows in the microwave for ten seconds at a time until the are puffed up and easily stir into a goo with a wooden spoon. Tip: Grease your spoon with butter, things can get a bit sticky.

Step Three:

Add food colouring  to the melted marshmallows until you get the colour you want. Remember that you're going to be adding icing sugar which will lighten the colour so make it a bit brighter than you need.

Step Four:

Start folding icing sugar into the marshmallow goo until it becomes a soft and fluffy dough. Grease your hands with a bit of butter and turn the marshmallow out onto a table sprinkled with icing sugar. Continue to knead in icing sugar until the fondant is stiff enough to roll out.

If you add too little icing sugar the fondant will be very sticky- Just add more icing sugar

If you add too much icing sugar the fondant will be very stiff and hard to roll out - knead in a little bit of butter

Fondant with the icing sugar kneaded in.

Finished fondant!

For this batch of colours I made larger batches of lighter colours and then worked some extra gel colouring into the already made fondant to make smaller batches of darker colours. The dark purple and dark green were made from the a light pink and light green.

All you need to do is knead the gel colour in.. it takes a while to get it all mixed in which is why I only do it for smaller batches.

To store your fondant wrap them in pieces of lightly greased plastic wrap and keep them either in a big ziplock bag or a tupperware container. The fondant is essentially a sugar paste (its just marshmallows and icing sugar) so it has a shelf life of three or four months. If it feels a bit stiff and hard to use after being stored for a long time you can soften it up by kneading a bit of butter in or putting in the microwave one-two seconds at a time.

Now its ready to roll out and use to decorate your cakes and cookies!

 

Marshmallow Fondant

Ingredients:

½ of a 400g bag of mini marshmallows

2½ cups icing sugar

1 tablespoon water

Vegetable shortening

Food colouring (optional)

Method:

1. Place the marshmallows in a large, microwave-safe mixing bowl. Next, toss the marshmallows with the tablespoon of water to make them damp. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time until they are puffy and mostly melted. Measure out the icing sugar and place in a separate bowl (this makes it easier to add it in as you go).

2. Grease a spoon or spatula with some vegetable shortening and stir marshmallows until smooth. If you are making coloured fondant, then stir in some food colouring at this point. The gel or powdered food colouring works better than the liquid. If you are using liquid food colouring you may need to add a bit of extra icing sugar.

3. Stir about a ¼ cup of the icing sugar into the melted marshmallows. A lot will stick to the spoon but don't worry about it, or try to scrape it off. Keep adding icing sugar into the bowl, and using the spoon or spatula to stir and stretch the marshmallow and incorporate the sugar.

4. When half of the sugar has been added to the bowl and worked into the marshmallow, use the shortening to generously grease your hands and begin to gently knead the remaining sugar into the fondant. At first it will feel very soft and puffy, but as you work in the rest of the sugar the fondant will become more firm and dough-like. Keep kneading until all of the sugar has been incorporated.

5. Take the fondant out of the bowl and place it on a clean counter. Knead a teaspoon or two of shortening into it to get rid of the powdered sugar from the outside and to keep it from drying out. If your fondant is still very sticky at this point, put it back in the bowl and add icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until it’s easier to handle.

6.Cover the fondant with a piece of plastic wrap and stick in a Ziplock bag. Allow to rest for about an hour to cool to room temperature.

7. When you are ready to decorate, grease your work surface well with shortening. Knead your fondant to get it workable, and then roll out to your desired thickness (I’d recommend 2 mm to ¾ cm). If the fondant is a few days old then you can get it workable again by putting it in the microwave for 2 seconds at a time. Even stubborn fondant will give in after a little bit of heat and being kneaded on a greased surface.

8. You can use the fondant to cover iced cakes, cupcakes or cookies. Use round cookie cutters of different sizes for cute and easy polka dots or cut the fondant into even strips to layer for a striped effect. Shapes like hearts and flowers look great on icing or on top of a base layer of fondant. Leftovers can be stored for up to three months wrapped in plastic in Ziplock bags at room temperature in a cool spot away from direct sunlight.

 

 

Comments

[Karen]

I also add the color to the mix when I first start kneading the dough. Helps get things even.

[Karen]

I also coat my hands in crisco and it makes so it is easy to knead. Makes a huge difference!

[Connie Borneman]

Is icing sugar hard to find I've never seen it

[Lynnemarie Olson]

This is an amazing recipe...Thank you a 1,000 times over!

[kylie]

how long will this keep for?

[Amy]

I will try and make it. Thank you

[Laura Artemis Stern]

This Looks so easy, so I've tried it today...
Wow, this was SUPER SUPER sticky...
I think half of my marshmallows remained in the bowl and I definitely underestimated the needed amount of icing sugar...
I haven't tried it yet...
Hope it was worth all the work...

[Debbie]

I need to make black. Any suggestions. Trying to make Mickey Mouse.

[Caron Mortemore]

hi there all,, I have just made my marshmellow fondant,, easy peasy and no mess or fuss BUT now,, what do I do to USE it,, use a cookie cutter for shapes or put in piping bag? will it work,, please HELP ME,, hehe

[Lazanda]

Wow!!! This is just what I was searching for!!
Thank you sooo much!!

[Elizabeth]

Thank you so much for this or recipe. I have avoided using store bought fondant because it really is inedible and therefore ultimately ruins all of your hard work. Thank you again, really enjoy your or recipes.

[Lala]

amazing!!!!!!! ı have never seen this before!! :) :D

[MontanaJ]

Would you happen to know how much fondant a regular size bag of marshmallows would make (enough to cover what size cake)? I would like to use this to fondant cover cake...

[Fran Wallace]

If this was put on a cake, could it be frozen? This would be a great red carpet for my granddaughter's 3 tiered birthday cake for her Red Carpet party, right? But it has to be transported over 120 miles and I usually freeze the cake to help.

[Stephanie]

Fran: I haven't tried freezing it myself, so I wouldn't be comfortable telling you that it would work. I suspect that it would be just fine though.

[Alisha]

What is icing sugar ? Powdered sugar ?

[Emily Claire Lifestyle]

This is great! I havent tried the flavour extract but Heres how I make mine http://www.emilyclairelifestyle.com/homemade-fondant-as-easy-as-1-2-knead/

[Tina Baker]

I am so excited about making these different colors. I am making a castle cake ( princess ) for my granddaughter . I am so excited about making the flowers and leaves for this cake. My ? is how long will they stay firm on the cake, or around it? I am new to the fondant. Thank you

[tina]

my question is can the fondant be froze or just put in cupboard or fridge?

[Sarah Talbott]

So, I made a huge spiderman cake yesterday and used this recipe got the fondant. This recipe is a bit of a pain to work with sometimes, especially until you get enough powdered sugar. But it is far, far more forgiving than store bought fondant. Not to mention the cost is waaaay better (I was able to get Kraft marshmallows on special, three bags for $6).

[Betty Mitstifer]

I tried this about a year ago. Delicious! For flavor, I used the flavored marshmellows that come out during the different seasons and holidays, works great!

[birgit]

Do you have to cover the cake with buttercream/cream or jam before applying the fondant?

[Anna D]

does vegetable oil work, instead of vegetable shortening?

[sarah]

Came out perfect! Thank you for the easy to follow techniques.

[Jane]

Hi can I use butter instead of vegetable shortening?

[qasid]

Thanks a bunch and great recipe. I just had one question though! The food colors you mentioned, are they safe from health perspective?

[HarleyGirlNik]

Hi! Thanks for the recipe, as fondant is yucky and I'm big on taste. :D My question is, before coloring, is it white? That is the color I need...

[stephanie]

I'm going to try this soon looks great all I have is the bigger marshmallows how many would I have to use about.

[Susie Q]

I'm sure going to try this soon. It looks great and sounds super easy to do. Thanks!

[virginia Burke]

\this is so easy.ready set go...Springhill Nova Scotia Canada

[natalie]

If you make a cake using this... Are you able to freeze it all until the cake is needed??

[jasmine]

thank you sooo much. i too have avoided making my own and you have given me the courage to take the leap

[Harry and Val Contois]

We have a wee lady loves to bake I'll make certain she gets this to consider She works with fondants My thanks to you

[Heidi]

Love this! Love your site! Very inspirational.

[Treasure Nsikak]

Please where can I get some of the ingredient from im a nigerian

[anita]

Definitely going to try

[rebecca]

This is a great recipe! Any tips on sculpting figures and not having them melt slowly in front of you? I tried the fridge, but they melt in the fridge. :(

[felicity french]

did all those colours come from the one batch (re ingredients list) am goin to need to make 4 main colours for my girls birthday next week and unsure how to break it down -

[lydia]

I real like it am gonna try it soon

[Louise]

how much does this recipe yield? how big a cake can I cover?

[lynette Kingipotiki]

Brilliant. Im from New Zealand and Im so going to do this for my Christmas cakes this year. excited much.

[laurent]

thanks for this,i will do this steps tommorow :)