I recently took a fondant class at one of my favorite cooking stores, Sur La Table. The instructor, Rachel Klemek, owns and runs the Black Market Bakery in Orange County. It  is one of the best bakeries in the area and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to learn from an expert. I have always been a little intimidated by fondant, but love the look of it. I learned so many great tips during the hands-on instruction and discovered that fondant is just a grown-up version of play dough.  I was pleased with how my first cake turned out and shared it with friends later that night. I opted to make it pink with a white bow, not my son’s favorite choice, but I’ll make any possible excuse to use pink.

I definitely prefer the taste of buttercream icing to fondant, but to me fondant is more about the artform than the taste. The instructor of the class shared a recipe for marshmallow fondant which tastes better than fondant and is easy to make. Peggy Weaver , another cake decorator, has put together a great site which details everything there is to know about working with fondant. After taking the class and reading Peggy’s articles, I decided to attempt my first fondant cake. I made a mini cake for a neighbor’s birthday and added cute little flower cut-outs to it. I liked the final product and can’t wait to keep practicing.

Marshmallow Fondant (Recipe from What’s Cooking America) 

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows

2 to 5 tablespoons water

2 pounds C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results

1/2 cup Crisco shortening  

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave.Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

Grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

Start kneading like you would bread dough. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is too dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.