Homemade marshmallow fondant is pliable, easy to handle, and easy to color and flavor.
When Jason and I began working out the details for our wedding cake, only one thing was on the table – absolutely no fondant. I have never been a fan of fondant. Sure, it’s pretty – a smooth, flawless finish is difficult to obtain with buttercream frostings. But the taste… and then the after taste. Absolutely nasty. Cake shouldn’t be dry and it most definitely should be nasty.
While taking a cake decorating class a while back, my instructor gave us a recipe for marshmallow fondant. It was a dream to work with – it was pliable, easy to handle, and best of all, it wasn’t nasty 🙂
For black marshmallow fondant, check out this chocolate marshmallow fondant recipe.
Marshmallow Fondant
Homemade marshmallow fondant is pliable, easy to handle, and easy to color and flavor.
Ingredients
- 16 oz bag plain marshmallows (the small ones)
- 2 Tbsp water
- shortening, for greasing bowls
- 1-2 tsp flavoring
- 2 lb confectioner
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Grease a microwave safe bowl, a spoon, the dough hook, and the bowl of your stand mixer with shortening (grease it well).
- Place the marshmallows and water in the greased microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 60 seconds. Stir with the greased spoon. If all the marshmallows have not melted, microwave for 30 seconds more. Stir in flavoring.
- Place confectioner's sugar and salt in the stand mixer bowl, reserving 1 cup, and make a well in the center. Pour in the marshmallow mix and turn the mixer on to the lowest setting. When it sounds strained, increase the mixer speed up one setting. Turn off the mixer once all sugar has been incorporated. If the fondant is sticky, add the reserved confectioner's sugar 1/4 cup at a time.
- Turn fondant out onto plastic wrap. Rub a bit of shortening on the outside of the ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, place in a ziploc bag, and let rest for at least 2-3 hours. Keep unused portions covered when not using. If the fondant becomes stiff, place in microwave for 20 seconds at a time until pliable.
- Roll out on a greased mat/fondant circle to the desired thickness.
Notes
Yields: Enough fondant to cover 1 cake
Estimated time: 3 hours
wow what a great recipe! The cake is beautiful too.
I agree that normal fondant is not good, this sounds fab!
I am also a fan of marshmallow fondant and it tastes so great. And it’s so easy to use! That cake is beautiful – I love the bow, it’s so delicate!
Not only do I absolutely LOOOOOOVE this cake — it’s gorgeous — but the idea of the marshmellow fondant is genius. I always just had cakes slathered with buttercream and then covered with a thin layer of fondant for the look. But if the fondant can taste good, you’ve got a real good thing going! Thanks!
Wow! I can only imagine how great it feels to create something so beautiful! Nice job 🙂 And marshmallow fondant sounds yummy.
you’ve made my day! i can’t wait to try it out! sounds perfect!
I have been wanting to play with fondant, but have shied away because of the taste. Thank you so much for this recipe!!
You are awesome. Seriously. Open up a bakery so I can get extremely overweight.
This looks so pretty! I’ve been wanting to try fondant for a long time now- maybe I’ll be able to give this a try soon!
This is absolutely adorable. I really am not a fan of fondant but this sounds a lot different and a lot better.
BEAUTIFUL cake!!! i hate the taste of fondant too…marshmallow fondant sounds promising though….
I feel the same way about fondant – but that one is so beautiful I’d be willing to try it.
Looks good to me, but that’s not the reason for this comment…
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I’m in total agreement with you on the fondant.. I love the look of it, but refuse to eat it. I don’t think I’ve had marshmallow fondant. If you say its good, I must try it! Gorgeous cake!
Looks pretty! I have the tools, now need to brave an attempt to work with fondant. I bought some for my dry run, but want to make it some day. I have Glenna’s marshmallow’s fondant bookmarked, and now I have this one. Its time for me to get started! 🙂 Thanks!
Where did you take your cake decorating class? I’ve been thinking of the Wilton one at Joann’s. Your cake is beautiful and the fondant sounds amazing!
Also, I think your blog is E for Excellent!
Cout me in as another fan of it! This is only fondant I use here because of the humidity around and it does not sweat or melt. The cake is gorgeous!
I NEED to try this.
That cake looks incredible! I have to try that fondant!
I can’t recall the last time I tasted a traditional fondant, so I can’t say whether or not I dislike it. This recipe, however, looks just as easy and and very tasty. so I’m bookmarking it for later. Thanks for sharing!
Hi – I just wanted to say thank you for this recipe! It is FABULOUS! I’ve always loved the look of fondant but hated the taste, so steered clear. I tried this for a cake recently, and it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it – including me!
i love this recipe! i have to admit i was scared to make fondant for the first time, but the recipe is spot on and it turned out great!
i have one question… what type of chocolate and how much would you add to this recipe to make chocolate MMF? Also, where in the process would you add it?
love your blog, btw. i just stumbled upon it a week or so ago. tia!
hi! could you tell me what 16oz is in grams? the only bags of marshmallows i can find here have weight listed in grams and i can’t figure out the equivalent. would love to make this fondant – the picture looks great. !
what flavoring did you use? can’t wait to try it!
Lauren – I usually use vanilla. Lemon is kind of interesting but it doesn’t work for very many cake flavors.
The cake is absolutely beautiful. ….classic looking. Thanks for the recipe. I have tried regular fondant twice, and did ot find it as hard to work with as I thought it would be. Like others, though, I did NOT like the taste. I am anxious to try your marshmallow fondant. Thank you for your blog–I just discovered it!
I am a cake decorator to be and I use fondant a lot but it is a waste becasue it looks but does not taste good. Thanks so much for the recipe. I am making a cake for my friends and I need to know how much it makes? And how much does it cost total?
@Gwyn, the recipe will make enough to cover and decorate a standard 8 or 9-inch cake, with a little leftover.
Thanks!
i tried this for a cake and at first it turned out perfect but after a while it started to have this glossy look but that may be due to the humidity here cause i live in the caribbean…but it did look and taste good…any suggestions that may fix this would be helpful.
I have tried to work with fondant but it is too hard even when you knead it. It tastes awful. I will try this fondant. I took classes at Cake Carousel in Richardson, Texas but did not take the fondant class. I don’t really want to use fondant in my work but am tempted to try it with this. I forgot to ask if you put only fondant on a cake or do you put it over icing? I am currently making petit fours and wanted to use fondant on them for the look. Cake Carousel is a fabulous place to take lessons. Michelle was great. Thanks Beatrice
Great idea to use my kitchen aid, saved me tons of time, which is of the essense. I have made this before but it was so time consuming, that this was truly a God send!
Thanks for the recipe! I don’t have any prior experience with Fondant, homemade or store-bought. I quartered your recipe and incorporated as much sugar as I could and then kneaded it some, and then left for a couple of hours. I could roll it easily, however I noticed that I could easily get my fingerprints on the fondant. Was my fondant too soft? Should I tried to use all the sugar? I used about 5 oz sugar for 3.2 oz marshmallow. Made really small batch to test.