Day 5: The Cake Countdown

As I said on Sunday, this is the week of my niece Jordan's 15th birthday and my nephew Isaac's 7th birthday.  I'm makin two separate cakes for them for their mixed family birthday party at my house on Sunday.  So far I have the black and white flowers made for Jordan's cake and have sketches and photos of the Kenworth cab for Isaac's cake.

I ran a test run on marshmallow fondant the other day and it's sitting in the fridge, wrapped up patiently waiting to be used.  I've worked a bit with fondant but have usually bought the Wilton pre-made.   I have made it from scratch but it was time consuming a pain in the buttend.  I'd seen decorators talking about marshmallow fondnat for a while and finally gave in to trying. They kept saying it was tastier, easier, and cheaper to make than traditional fondant.

Click below for step by step photos and the recipe.

Marshmallow Fondant

By Glenna Anderson Muse **

1 lb mini marshmallows

2 Tbsp Water

Place marhsmallows, flavoriings, and water in a microwave proof bowl and microwave on high for 60 seconds. Stir.  If not completely melted repeat with 30 seconds microwave intervals until mixture is completely melted when stirred.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of a free standing mixer, add:

2 lbs. powdered sugar

2 Tbsp corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla, clear if available

1 tsp any other flavorings desired (optional)

Add melted marshmallow mixture and stir on low using the mixer dough hook.

As mixture combines, incread speed slightly to knead. Add a little water if all the powdered sugar fails to combine.  When mixture is completely mixed and homogenous, turn out onto the counter sprinkled with powdered sugar or a powdered sugar/cornstarch combo.

  Spray hands with cooking spray and knead dough, adding sugar as needed, until mass is still pliable but not sticky.  Pat into a loaf, cover with plastic wrap, and drop into a gallon ziplock bag, squeezing out any excess air. Will store in the fridge for weeks, I'm told.  The dough will be slightly too sticky to work with if you try to roll it out that moment so allow it to cool in the fridge to "set" and harden slightly. Bring back to room temp to work with. The amount it makes is about 3 times one lbs of the Wilton Fondant ($7.99/lb) and cost $3.50 for the whole batch.

Just for grins I rolled a small piece out and laid it over the cooking spray can lid.  The next morning the fondant did still hold its shape but it was not at all hard like traditional fondant would be.

That's great for the cake because there's nothing worse, to me, that trying to cut into a cake with a hard fondant shell, but it's bad in that the marshmallow fondant wouldn't work well for flowers.  For those, I'm going to stay with the traditional fondant or gumpaste.  Just FYI, Fondant has corn syrup or glycerin in it, gumpaste has gum arabic in. Both edible but the gumpaste is slightly harder and dries harder.

The taste is quite good. Admittedly, it's not as creamy as buttercream but it's much better than traditional fondant. To me fondant just tastes like powdered sugar and water.  The marshmallow fondant reminds me of being a kid at Christmas when Mom would make divinity, only once cooled this is denser.  But not bad at all.

** I'm claiming this recipe because although I saw several different recipes, this is different from all of them.  Like usual, I took the concept and developed it the way I wanted it to be.

Comments

[Chris]

Wow - this is cool. I always see and hear about fondant but have never worked with it 'cause I am not a fan of its taste when its wedding cakes I have tried. But, I love marshmallow! This may have to be a summer project...:) Thanks for all the how-tos!

[sher]

That's so interesting! I've never heard of this kind of fondant until now. It sounds much better than the regular stuff.

[Butta Buns]

Ah man, I'd give anything for one of those stand mixers. Thanks for posting this, I've always been intimidated by fondant but this takes some of the mystery out of it.

[Glenna]

Chris--so glad you're enjoying this. I was a little worried it might be boring to do the step by step, day by day thing. Hey, just because I'm obsessed with these cakes... you know?

Sher--It really is. I'm very impressed and pleased with whomever thought of this because it's not bad at all. Even Gene liked it and ate a fairly big ball of it and he HATES fondant.

[Kate]

That actually looks good. Sounds good, too. But after my frosting mess last week (14 minutes with a handmixer) I think it will have to wait until I find a stand mixer to play with.

[Tanna]

I think the best part of a project that is such an involved process is that I always learn something I didn't expect. Best of luck with the cake.

[Glenna]

Kate--Oh I hear you about the hand mixer. When I first started baking cakes professionally many years ago, I think I burned out a half dozen hand mixers before my husband saw that a standing mixer was worth the price. I'll never regret buying that.

Tanna--Totally agree with you! I'll never be one of those bakers or cooks who does the same thing over and over again exactly the same way. I'm like you. I like learning new things and challenging myself.

[Glenna]

BB- When you can, invest in one. It's one of those things I always thought "wow, that's a lot of money" but seriously, I've never regretted it once.

[Fruittart]

This is so timely! My Thing 3 has her birthday on the 28th and I bought a package of that icky Wilton fondant to play with. I don't like the taste of it at all so I haven't been too interested in working with it before, but I had an idea for a cake for the little princess and it wouldn't do to make it with buttercream . . . we'll see how it goes. I like the idea of the marshmallow fondant for covering the cake, even if it isn't what you would pick for making flowers & other shapes . . . at least the stuff that covers most of the cake would taste better!

Can't wait to see the rest of the story!

[Glenna]

Fruittart--I agree. That's exactly what I'm going to do. The marshmallow really isn't bad for when you need that look but I don't think the flowers or anything you need to look "sharp" or be harder would hold up with it. But hey, at least it's not as much waste to pick off the flowers and decorations. I think I'm still going to put a heavy coating of buttercream under the marshmallow fondant though. It's not THAT good.

[Dianne]

This looks fantastic! I've been looking for a fondant for my daughter's Castle cake for her birthday and I think this is the best one I've come across. I'm going to whip up a batch and let her try it. Thanks! :)

[Glenna]

Dianne--That makes me really happy to help. I know exactly what you mean. I was not thrilled about making Isaac's truck until this marshmallow fondant turned out so well. Now I'm thinking we can handle cutting it.

[Kathe]

I've been prying into your blog for a few days now and wanted to thank you for such a wonderful assortment of journals and tips!

I recently started playing with marshmallow fondant myself and as far as flowers go, I discovered by weeks of trial and error that you can add about a tablespoon of gum-tex, paste color and liquid flavoring while kneading it to make it the right texture for flowers!!

I chose raspberry since my cake project is lemon with raspberry filling.

The recipe I have is only 16 ounces marshmallow, 2lbs. confectioner's sugar and 2-5T water... I may try yours for the covering of the cakes, it sounds like it would roll better.

This will be my first fondant cake and it's for 75 people!!! I made 52 flowers last night... e-gads!

Wish me luck!!

[Glenna]

Kathe--Most excellent! Thanks for sharing your tips. i'll have to try the gum-tex/flavoring too. I thought about adding some coconut to the coconut cake but at the time I didn't think I was going to use the whole batch.

Good luck on your cake!!!!!

[murat]

Oh my good. Marshmallow Fondant sounds nice. I will try to make it.

[Glenna]

Thanks, Murat!

[Nadia]

OH great I like Marshmallow..thank you for recipe.

[Glenna]

Nadia--You're welcome!

[Misty]

I experimented with this a little bit (as far as the MM fondant)And another very tasty variation is to add 1oz bakers chocolate and 2Tbsp Ghiradelli Cocoa to the marshmallows while melting for an AWESOME Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant!

[Cheap Air Jordans]

What a great blog! It's a pity that i can't find your rrs address. If you can offer rrs subscription service, i can track your blog easier!