How to Make Marshmallow Fondant

Marshmallow fondant is easy to make and pretty fun to use. You can cover cakes and cookies with it to give them a smooth professional-looking finish or you can cut out shapes and designs to decorate your icing with. Its cheaper to make your own fondant than it is to buy it pre-made plus the pre-made stuff tastes a bit like cardboard unless you are willing to pay for a very high end product.



All you need is:

1. Marshmallows - they can be big marshmallows or mini ones, either one works fine.
2. Icing sugar - You'll be mixing the icing sugar into the marshmallows to make a dough so I usually make sure that I have an entire bag on hand.. but I rarely use the whole bag.
3. Food colouring
4. Flavoring oil - This is optional. If you don't add this your fondant will be sweet and flavorless which works well if your got all the flavors your want in your cake already

This time I decided to make it with those mini fruit flavored marshmallows. I had to sort them by colour first. I figured they would add a little bit of flavor to the fondant so I wouldn't have to add much flavoring oil.

I use gel colours to dye my fondant but regular food colouring will work too. You won't be able to get really dark colours without making your fondant sticky, but for lighter colours you can just even it out with more icing sugar.

I also had lemon oil and coconut flavoring on hand.. oh la la the value brand (which still works fine).

Step One:

Take a couple of handfuls of marshmallows and put them in a microwave safe bowl. Add a couple of drops of water and toss the marshmallows in it until they are all a bit damp. If you are going to just make one colour then put the whole bag of marshmallows in the bowl and add a couple of teaspoons of water. If you're going to put flavoring oil in, add it now and add less water

I like to make smaller batches because its easier to add the colour to the melted marshmallow than it is to work the colour into the fondant later.

Step Two:

Stick the marshmallows in the microwave for ten seconds at a time until the are puffed up and easily stir into a goo with a wooden spoon. Tip: Grease your spoon with butter, things can get a bit sticky.

Step Three:

Add food colouring to the melted marshmallows until you get the colour you want. Remember that you're going to be adding icing sugar which will lighten the colour so make it a bit brighter than you need.

Step Four:

Start folding icing sugar into the marshmallow goo until it becomes a soft and fluffy dough. Grease your hands with a bit of butter and turn the marshmallow out onto a table sprinkled with icing sugar. Continue to knead in icing sugar until the fondant is stiff enough to roll out.

If you add too little icing sugar the fondant will be very sticky- Just add more icing sugar

If you add too much icing sugar the fondant will be very stiff and hard to roll out - knead in a little bit of butter

Fondant with the icing sugar kneaded in.

Finished fondant!

For this batch of colours I made larger batches of lighter colours and then worked some extra gel colouring into the already made fondant to make smaller batches of darker colours. The dark purple and dark green were made from the a light pink and light green.

All you need to do is knead the gel colour in.. it takes a while to get it all mixed in which is why I only do it for smaller batches.

To store your fondant wrap them in pieces of lightly greased plastic wrap and keep them either in a big ziplock bag or a tupperware container. The fondant is essentially a sugar paste (its just marshmallows and icing sugar) so it has a shelf life of three or four months. If it feels a bit stiff and hard to use after being stored for a long time you can soften it up by kneading a bit of butter in or putting in the microwave one-two seconds at a time.

Now its ready to roll out and use to decorate your cakes and cookies!


Direct Link To Making Your Own Marshmallow Fondant

Winter Wedding Idea

Winter Wedding Idea

I heard a great idea today and can't wait to try it out. For making fake ice crystals for winter wedding decorations, use rock salt spray-painted with white/clear glitter paint!! I can't wait to try it out.

Petal Cones

Petal Cones
I bought 12x12 scrap book paper on sale from Michaels. I cut it down to 6x6 and made it into a cone. First I took blank paper and played with it until I got the perfect curve. I think put them all through the printer, printed our monogram on it, then used a template to cut them all down so that they would be curved on top. I used both double stick tape and invisible tape to roll them into cones. (the invisible tape went on the inside)

Memory Candles

Memory Candles:
I purchased the pillar candles from Michaels (which did end up leaking everywhere) and used vellum from either Michaels or Staples. When you buy your vellum make sure you check which printer it works best with. The first time I bought the laserjet ones, and I have an inkjet and the ink rubbed right off onto my hand. I printed my design onto the vellum, cut the vellum down, then wrapped it around the candle and attached it with double stick tape, then took out the handy glue gun to glue ribbon to the edge of the vellum on both the top and the bottom.

invitation folds

This was my pocket fold…there are 3 views in this pic (the closed invite, a zoom of the center card and open to show full inside.

I put a very thin line of glue on each of the pocket and there was room for the RSVP post card and a thin card with travel info. Depending on what you want to put in the pocket this may be enough or you can use tabs on the pocket to make it deeper. (You can see it in the drawing below)

My invitation folded to a square that was 5×5″. This meant that I cut a piece of card stock 5″ x 17.5″ I made folds in the card stock so that there were three 5″ squares and one 2.5″ side be side in that order (like the drawing).

I folded the 2.5″ piece in, glued the two edges and that was the pocket. The same thing would happen with tabs only you fold them in, apply glue to the tabs and attach to form pocket.

type writer guest book

type writer guest book

This idea was originally showcased on Martha Stewart Weddings and is catching on quickly. Any couple who loves reading, writing, antiques, literature, etc – can celebrate their personalities with this unique and memorable idea! You can find an antique typewriter fairly affordable online (try Ebay), at an anitque shop, an thrift shop or garage and estate sales.

You can use one long roll of paper, which can then be rolled and tied like a scroll, of folded and placed right into your wedding album! Or, use single sheets of paper, which can then be combined into a book, put together in a scrapbook or in your wedding ablum, or assembled like a manuscript.

Make Your Wedding Reception Sparkle! Decorating Tips On A Budget

Choosing the right decorations for a wedding reception can be a real challenge. This can be further complicated if you are trying to decorate on a tight budget. However there are tons of sources of cheap wedding decorations that can add a lot of zest and sparkle to the reception. If you plan ahead, work carefully and buy strategically you can save a ton of money while still having a beautifully decorated reception. This article will help with some practical ideas and tips for decorating your wedding reception on a budget.

Do It Yourself

One of the best ways to save money on wedding reception decorations is to do some of the work yourself. You can often buy the pieces and parts separate and then simple assemble the decorations. The great thing is you will save money, while personalizing your decorations. This will ensure that you wedding decorations look different from a standard cheap store bought ones. For example you might buy some streamers and balloons and then assemble these together in an interesting arrangement.

Buy In Bulk

Another great way which really goes along with the Do It Yourself concept is to buy in bulk whenever possible. This is easiest to do online these days as you can find many stores that will sell in large quantities. For example you can get 250 tea light or floating candles and sine you are purchasing so many at one time you will save big. Then you can use the concept from above and assemble them on your own.

Use Friends

An easy way to get the decorations done fast is to have a pre wedding decoration party with your girlfriends. Have them come over for an evening of hot soup and sandwiches and then spend the rest of the evening enjoying everyone’s company and conversation while everybody works away at assembling the decorations for the reception.

Use Candles

Buy a ton of candles in bulk and then pick up a few large glass bowls or large open vases and you have your decorations set. You can float the candles on water inside of the vases. This makes a wonderful sparkling environment for the reception that people will just love. It is simple yet very elegant and can be done with very little work. For an extra personal touch you can include some candles at each persons sitting place also.

So get started early, purchase in bulk then divide and conquer to get the assembly of your decorations done for very little expense.