Hello crafters!

This week’s tutorial isn’t exactly a diy craft project but I love this marshmallow fondant recipe so much that I have to share it with you!

Any cake makers out there know how expensive fondant can be. Buying a couple of pounds of fondant is about twelve dollars depending on where you get it and doesn’t taste good at all! This recipe will cover an 8 – inch cake (with leftovers!) and will cost you no more than six dollars! Not to mention it tastes so delicious that you will actually want to eat it 🙂

Marshmallow fondant ingredients

• 16 oz marshmallows (400 g bag)
• 3 tbsp water
• 1tbsp shortening
• 8 cups icing sugar (1kg bag)

Directions to make marshmallow fondant

Combine the marshmallows and water and microwave for 1 minute. The marshmallows won’t be totally melted, just a little bit shiny. You are basically softening them:

Transfer the marshmallows to the bowl of your stand mixer. I have never tried to make this recipe by hand. I’m sure it would work but it will certainly be an arm workout!

I used the paddle attachment but the hook attachment would work as well. Add the shortening and turn your mixer on to low.  Slowly add the icing sugar into the bowl. I say slowly because otherwise it will poof out all over your counter tops. (Speaking from experience)

Once all of the icing sugar is incorporated your fondant is ready to use! Simply take it out of the bowl and give it a quick knead by hand.

You can wrap it really well in cling film until you are ready to use it.

Tips for colouring your fondant

• adding too much colouring might bring too much moisture into your fondant causing it to become sticky. Fix this by simply mixing in more icing sugar
• add cocoa to your fondant for black, brown so you don’t need as much food colouring
• To remove food colouring stains from your counter cover the stain with dish soap and let sit for 20 minutes then simply scrub the stains away 🙂

To colour your fondant flatten the piece out a bit and drop your food colouring in the center then fold it in half to spread the colours around before kneading. I found this little trick stopped the food colouring from just dripping out of the fondant when kneading.

Get creative! 

Tips for working with fondant

If you are simply covering a cake with your fondant you should have an easy enough time just rolling it out and smoothing it onto your cake (remember to use icing sugar to stop it from sticking to your counter).

I used my fondant to make a figurine so I came across a couple of tips as I worked on it.

• Make sure you keep the individual colours well wrapped when not in use. If they dry out a bit you can add a couple of drops of water and knead it in to remoisten.
• To ‘glue’ pieces together you can use just a few dabs of water as the fondant is mostly sugar.
• For heavier pieces you can stick a toothpick through the parts to make sure they dry properly.
• To remove the dusty looking icing sugar from the outside take a small paintbrush and paint a little bit of water on your fondant
• If you want to texture your fondant (I used a steak knife to put lines on the boat) simply brush the surface of the fondant with water to soften just the outside and make your marks while it is still wet
• Get creative with tools! I used toothpicks and a knife for my fondant but any household object that you can get your hands on can make cool effects

I’m no expert on modelling with fondant, this was my first time trying to make a figurine but here is my first attempt: a fisherman for my boyfriend’s birthday cake 🙂

Enjoy this recipe and please share your ideas or questions below in the comments! I always love to hear from my fellow crafters 🙂

Happy crafting!