One of my Laurels and I made, or rather, we built a birthday cake for her mom's birthday. I taught her how to make homemade fondant and cover the cake with it. She made 4 layers of cake, two yellow and two chocolate. We frosted it with chocolate butter cream and then covered it with fondant. We added white fondant polka dots and a cute peach bow made of fondant on top. I love spending time with each of the young women.
The Homemade Fondant Recipe is below because I know you want to try it!
HOMEMADE FONDANT
16 oz marshmallows
2 pounds powdered sugar
2-5 T water
1/2 cup Crisco
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.
Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY with Crisco, 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. Keep kneading,
this stuff is sticky at this stage! 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 to 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.
Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good
layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic-type wrap product and then put it
in a Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Fondant will hold very
well in the refrigerator for weeks.
When using rested fondant, get at room temp (use microwave
for 10 seconds at a time) and use cornstarch to prevent sticking to
counter. Add a few drops of food
coloring at a time and knead in. When
rolling out, don’t go less than 1/8 in thick and use a non-stick rolling pin if
you have one, if not, use cornstarch.
When placing fondant on cake, roll around rolling pin, drape the edge
over cake and slowly unroll fondant onto pre-iced cake. Use hands and a small amount of cornstarch to
smooth onto the icing of cake, use a pizza cutter or knife to trim excess
fondant.
Store a fondant cake on the counter in a sealed cake box for
up to 3 days (fondant seals in moisture), do not refridgerate! Moisture will condense and ruin fondant.
