As I wrote in my last post, fondant is a tricky medium to work. I was very hesitant at first to even try it because of its softness and also because of the taste. While no one seems to ever love fondant as much as buttercream (can you blame them?), I found LMF fondant by Artisan Cake Company to be better than Wilton alone, better than marshmallow fondant and better than Satin Ice.

What’s the big deal about fondant, anyway? When you find a fondant you like, it’s so fun to make decorations with. I have an art background and it was one of my natural talents. When I was in high school, I fell in love with paper cutting with my X-Acto knife in high school Art Major class. Now I am happy and proud to use those skills through fondant. I also learned a lot about painting in high school and college classes and I am also able to use those skills and put them to good work. Here are a couple of decorations that used both my cutting and my painting skills:

It’s also good for covering cakes with when they want that perfectly smooth look (though you can also achieve this look with buttercream). I haven’t yet gotten completely comfortable with rolling out and covering cakes with fondant. That will always be something I struggle with. Sometimes it works beautifully, sometimes not so much. Rolled fondant is affected by humidity and it can get very hard to work with in warmer weather.

Now that you know why I love fondant, let’s move onto how to make fondant!

I think my first thing to suggest if you’re going to try the recipe I have linked to above is buy a scale! I love my EatSmart Scale that I got from Amazon. HERE’S THE LINK. The price makes it very economical for my purpose. And it zeros, meaning you can put a bowl on your scale, then set it to zero and start measuring. You will need two pounds of powdered sugar. If it seems lumpy, you may want to sift it:

1 pound of generic marshmallows. I live in the Norheast, so I buy Giant brand marshmallows. Don’t buy Kraft Jet-Puffed. I save money by buying my marshmallows when they’re $1 per bag. One bag isn’t quite a pound, so you need at least two bags. I save leftover marshmallows in a zip lock bags and use it in my next batch of fondant.

Half cup of Crisco / vegetable shortening. You CAN measure this by using a measuring cup, but that would be just so messy. Another idea is buying the Crisco sticks, but we buy our Crisco in bulk at BJ’s Wholesale Club. What I do is I measure 113 grams on my scale, which is how much a half stick of shortening weighs.

Sorry for this poor photo, but you’ll also need 1.25 pounds of Wilton fondant.

And 3 tablespoons of water.

Pop your marshmallows in the microwave and heat for about a minute. Gently poke at it with your spoon and if it seems like it needs to be melted a bit more, heat for 20 more seconds. When it appears to be nice and melted, pour your water over the fondant and swish around. The water helps separate the marshmallows from the bowl.

Pour the bowl of melted marshmallows into your mixing bowl that is fitted with the hook attachment. Throw in your shortening and start mixing on low.

Next, start adding your powdered sugar about a cup at a time. It should start to form a nice mass. Don’t worry if some sugar is stuck to the sides of the bowl. When you’ve added about half of the sugar, heat up your Wilton fondant in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds.

Let your fondant slide off of the hook and grease your hands to pull the fondant off of your hook. Dump into your bowl of powdered sugar. Take your warmed Wilton fondant and add that to the bowl, too. That fondant blob on the left is the Wilton and the more ivory-colored blob is the marshmallow fondant. All you need to do now is grease up your hands and start kneading it all together. I try to knead in as much of the sugar as possible. If it seems like it’s just not absorbing any more sugar, I stop. I have tried to force in all the sugar, but I think this dries it out. I didn’t take pictures at this point as to not destroy my iPhone!

When you are all finished, you should have over four pounds of fondant. I like to weigh it sometimes to see how much I got. This time my fondant came out to 4.3 pounds:

And there you have it! That’s how I have been making fondant for the last year. I truly LOVE this fondant and it’s only about $5 to make. The Wilton fondant is the most expensive part of this process, but I will only buy it with a 40-50% off coupon at Michael’s Arts and Crafts or at Joann Fabric’s. Buy your marshmallows, sugar, and shortening at a good price and you will reap the savings in a fondant that’s both versatile and affordable.

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Nichole