How to Make Dry Fondant

Mold fondant into figurines.

Dry fondant, also known as rolled fondant and sugarpaste, is primarily used to decorate cakes. It gives cakes a smooth, even finish, and you can mold it like clay into decorative elements such as flowers and small figurines. You can also add food coloring to your fondant, or paint directly on it. You can buy fondant at bakery supply shops, but it can be expensive and often does not taste very good. Instead, make your own affordable, tastier fondant with these straightforward directions. This recipe will make just enough to cover a two-layer 8-inch cake.

Things You'll Need

• 1 lb. marshmallows, any size 2 tbsp of water 2 lb. sifted confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup shortening Food coloring (optional) Microwave-safe bowl

Instructions

1. Grease your bowl with shortening, add your marshmallows and water to it, microwave for 2 1/2 minutes and stir. If marshmallows aren't totally melted, continue microwaving at 20-second increments until the marshmallows are fully melted.

2. Add food coloring to the melted marshmallows, making the color darker than you want your fondant to turn out because the sugar will dilute the color when added, but you can lighten your colored fondant later by kneading in white fondant.

3. Use a greased spoon to stir your confectioners' sugar into the melted marshmallows, adding 1/2 cup of sugar at a time until you've added about 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

4. Use shortening to grease your hands and your countertop where you'll be kneading your fondant.

5. Scrape the fondant out onto the greased counter, kneading in and adding sugar until it's not sticky, for about 10 minutes or longer. Grease your hands and counter whenever the fondant starts to stick. If the fondant begins to dry out and crack, knead in some shortening, 1 tbsp at a time, until it softens up and turns pliable and elastic.

6. 

   Use the fondant immediately if there are no clumps of powdered sugar visible. If there are, knead further or let the fondant rest overnight so it can absorb the sugar clumps. Gather the fondant into a ball, rub shortening onto the outside of the ball, wrap it well in two layers of plastic wrap, then store it in an airtight bag, making sure to squeeze all the air out of it.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have a microwave, you can melt your marshmallows in a double boiler. Bring an inch of water in a pot to a simmer, and put your bowl of marshmallows over the top of the pot with water, making sure the bottom of the bowl isn't in the water. Stir until they're all melted. The heat from the steam coming off the water will melt the marshmallow gently without burning them. For chocolate, mix 1 tbsp. of shortening to the melted marshmallow and add desired amount of cocoa powder, then continue through the steps. If fondant is dry, knead more shortening into the fondant. If you want very dark fondant, try Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder. If the fondant is too stiff to roll out, try warming it in the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds to soften it up, then kneading in some shortening to keep it pliable. It will be very hot out of the microwave, so use a rolling pin to knead it until it's cool enough to knead by hand. Apply fondant onto cake that's been first covered in buttercream, which will give the fondant something to stick to. Add 1 tsp. of a hardening agent such as Tylose, Gum Tragacanth, GumTex, or CMC for 8 every oz. of fondant if you want to make shapes like flowers or figurines that will dry hard.

• Melted marshmallow and fondant heated in the microwave to soften are very hot and sticky. Please use caution when handling these.

Resources

• Advice, ideas, and recipes for cakes and cake decorating.