Making Fondant with a 5-Year-Old

Making fondant with a 5-year-old...and the mess wasn't his fault!

So I’ve been wanting to learn to make fondant for quite a while now.  Everything I’ve read about it says it’s super hard to make, but that the pre-made stuff tastes like crap.  So what the hell are you supposed to do?  Anyway, I typically don’t like pre-made stuff.   I like to know how to make things from scratch and tweak them so they fit my tastes.  I found a recipe on Pinterest (which by the way, IMO, is THEE BEST!) for marshmallow fondant.  It said that marshmallow fondant was way easy and that there was no way you could mess it up.  Sounded great for a first attempt so I gave it a shot, with my trusty assistant J  Here’s what we used:  a bag of powdered sugar, a bag of marshmallows, some Crisco, and a few teaspoons of water.  And you need a Pyrex bowl, or something else that will be able to be microwaved.

By the way, check my new apron:

Okay, I let my son pour the marshmallows into the bowl.  And I let him eat a couple, too.

Then we added a couple teaspoons of water.  We melted it in the microwave.  It takes about two-and-a-half minutes total to melt (if I remember correctly) but we stopped it about every twenty or thirty seconds to check it and stir a little. 

When it was all melted we added ¾ of the bag of powdered sugar.  The recipe I had said to pour it on top, but I think the next time I try this, I’m going to stir it in a little bit before dumping it on the counter which is the next step. 

The next several minutes will have you in a panic.  I could have sworn that we forgot something or left something out.  Like a dummy, I didn’t print it out or have my laptop up and was instead looking at my phone.  But you get so incredibly sticky with the next step that you can barely pull your fingers apart, let alone grab your phone.  Hence, no pics from this stage.  Sorry!  Anyway, slowly but surely it all came together.  The Crisco is for greasing your hands and your working surface and trust me you want them extra greasy!  Add in a little more powdered sugar, too.  It will eventually come into the texture it is supposed to be.  Then you can dye it.  I have gel food coloring and it takes a while to work it in there for an even color and not a marble-y looking thing.  Keep your hands greased and when you put it up, grease the lump of fondant and the plastic wrap you’ll store it in until you are ready to use it.  Grease your rolling pin and your surface when you roll it out.  Once it’s flat you can lay it on top of your cake.

Trim the excess.

Make something out of the leftover fondant.  We did this Valentine's Day weekend so we made a pink cake and put hearts on it.

Success!  Tastes sweet, like marshmallows.  I think my next attempt will be much better and less messy. And now I’m dying to try to make real fondant.  So I survived a completely sticky mess with my 5-year-old helper.  And when I say sticky, I mean sticky.  I couldn’t even exaggerate how sticky it really gets.  I used a caulk scraper to remove the aftermath from my counter and the chair my son was standing in.  But we had a great time making it and I would totally suggest it for an afternoon project.  We made a strawberry cake from scratch that morning to put it on.  Speaking of strawberry cake, do you have a recipe for a from-scratch strawberry cake?  Because I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I should have and I have found that it’s hard to find a from scratch strawberry cake recipe.  Let me know!