Marshmallow Fondant in Stand Mixer

I am not a professional cake decorator, but I did work at a Mrs. Field's in the mall. I learned a thing or two about cake decorating making all those pretty cookie cakes. I would love to take a Wilton class to learn a bit more and improve the skills I kind of already have. So even though, I don't really know how to make fancy cakes and fillings and gum paste and fondant, but I like trying to make them. I have discovered a great decorating tool, Marshmallow Fondant. Marshmallow fondant is easy to work with and doesn't use a lot of ingredients. It is therefore great for a beginner like me who wants to make a cake a cool cake for their kids. And, because it is marshmallow fondant people (and kids) might actually eat the fondant, unlike the nasty fondant you usually peel off of the cake at a wedding. This recipe comes straight from Wilton.com.  It's a sticky mess mixed together by hand. My sister-in-law called once to see if I had a recipe for fondant. I gave her this one. She is a busy mom with 7 kids and did not want to mix it by hand and  wondered if she could mix it in a kitchen aid. I had no idea, I always mix it by hand. She said she would try it out and let me know how it worked. She said it worked great. So, when I needed to make a birthday cake for baby's 1st birthday on Nov 26 I knew I had to try to make it in the mixer. So if you want to mix it by hand, feel free to click on the link to Wilton.com for their instructions, but if you want to learn how to make it in a kitchen aid, stick around. I'll tell you how I did it.

Marshmallow Fondant

• 1 package (16 ounces) white mini marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
• 2-5 tablespoons water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or almond extract (not in the Wilton recipe but I usually add something)
• 2 pounds sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening

Place marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds on high; stir until mixed well. Continue microwaving 30 seconds more; stir again. Continue until melted (about 2 1/2 minutes).  IF you need to color your fondant ONLY one color you can add the food coloring to the melted marshmallow. If you need more than one color, you can knead it in after the fondant is finished.

Using some of that crisco, generously grease every inch or your mixing bowl and bread hook.

Pour half of the powdered sugar in mixing bowl. Add marshmallow mixture. Mix on low speed with stand mixer until marshmallow is completely incorporated. Add in the rest of the powdered sugar. If you don't want your powdered sugar flying everywhere wrap a piece of plastic wrap around the mixer and bowl.

Continue mixing until powdered sugar is kneaded in.  Well, if you have large and very powerful kitchen aid kneading in all of the sugar may work for you. If you are like me, your Kitchen Aid is a small 4 1/2 mixer with only 250 WATS of  power. It was sounding like it was working pretty hard, maybe a little too hard. For fear of my kitchen aids life I decided to turn off the mixer of before it could get all the powdered sugar mixed in. 

How it looked when I finally stopped my machine

I kneaded in the rest by hand, which was still better that mixing by hand from the start, because the proccess  really does start with a horrible, hot, sticky mess. Starting the fondant in the kitchen aid definitely eliminated that horrible, hot, sticky mess stage.  If, like me, you do any kneading by hand generously grease the counter space and your hands with crisco as needed so the fondant doesn't stick (it makes for nice moist hands too).   Continue kneading until fondant is soft and powdered sugar is mixed in. If fondant is dry add more water 1 tsp at a time. 

 If you need to make more that one color like me, take the amount of fondant needed for each color and knead in your food coloring.

 Grease up each chunk of fondant with crisco and wrap very tightly with plastic wrap. Let sit for at least an hour before using (the longer the better). 

I've heard you shouldn't store it in the fridge. I've heard you can store it in the fridge. It's just marshmallow and Crisco so it probably doesn't need refrigerated, but in my experience I don't think it matters either way. If you do choose to store it in the fridge it will get cold so it will be a little hard when you go to use it. You can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. BE CAREFUL. It has a lot sugar in it and sugar can get very hot very fast.

When you are ready to use your fondant, remember to put a layer or creamy frosting on you cake first. Roll out your fondant and cover your cake. There you have it, marshmallow fondant. I probably made it sound more complicated than it really is.