I've always wanted to use fondant but it's quite expensive. I also didn't know how much I needed to buy to cover and decorate a cake with. I came across a post for homemade fondant at Bake at 350. The timing was perfect. I wanted to make my aunt a cake for her graduation party and now that I found this fondant recipe, I had to experiment. The results: It tasted like fondant and I found it fairly easy to manipulate after I got the hang of it. My only issue - I should have rolled it out more so it wasn't as thick. It was a little under a 1/4 inch. When I started decorating the cake I kind of just went with it. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing, but I've seen Ace of Cakes enough to understand it. If you're curious I made a yellow cake from a Betty Crocker recipe.
Fondant
INGREDIENTS
16 oz. bag mini marshmallows
3 tbsp. water
2 lbs. powdered sugar
Crisco
DIRECTIONS
Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco. Add marshmallows and water to the bowl. Microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring at each interval until melted. Reserve about 1/4 c. powdered sugar. Place the rest of the powdered sugar in the large bowl of a standing mixer. Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco. Pour the melted marshmallows onto the powdered sugar. Beat until a dough forms. There will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all loose bits. Grease hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished, or just keep it all white, coat the fondant in a light layer of Crisco. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie. (One recipe said to let it rest 10 minutes, another overnight. I let mine rest overnight.) Store at room temperature for several months.
To use the fondant, dust the surface and rolling pin with cornstarch and roll to 1/8th of an inch. If the fondant is too hard, place in microwave for 10 seconds or more to soften and knead.
My sister in law makes cakes and she says that her fondant is the best but I can't remember how she does it. This looks pretty good though! Thanks!
this is awesome because i'm going to make fondant butterflies for Morgan's pink and purple 'rainbow cake' this year! it's a butterfly birthday!