Good Fondant - Wait, what?

This past weekend I made a wedding cake for my mom's BFF, Lori.  Let's just get this out of the way first - I really ought to stick with doing music, not cakes, at weddings.

Anyway, Lori knew what she was getting into with me (cheap labor, good bargaining, and a half decent cake), so I went for it.  After experimenting with fondant frosting last year for my sister in law's wedding, I knew if I was going to use this disgusting excuse for frosting would need an upgrade.  Previously, I used a box mix from the craft store.

This time, I decided to try my hand at making my own fondant, hoping it would be an improvement from the box mix.  I found a recipe on Wilton's website, but adapted it just a hair.

It was SOOO delicious, that my mom/partner in crime and I decided to cover the entire cake in fondant, rather that just using it for the pink flower.  Of course, there was still a pretty decent layer of my favorite delicious butter cream recipe under the fondant.

Unfortunately, I knew nothing about how to store and transport a cake decorated with the marshmallow goodness, so one 20 minute car ride later, and half of the fondant was sagging or cracked.  I'm over it now, but I was having a pretty hot melt down at the reception site during set up (sorry, Herb).

In case you're wondering about the cake design - the dark pink flowers are similar to what was on the wedding invitations, the light pink swirls echo the wedding gown, and the crown on the top is symbolic of their last name.  Can you spot the K monogram I hid in the swirly layer?

Anyway, here's the recipe.  It is simply amazing. I have some left over and, I'm not going to lie, I've been making little pearls and eating it plain.  So delish!

Marshmallow Fondant

16 oz mini marshmallows

2-5 tablespoons water

2 lbs 10 x sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1. Put the marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl and add 2 tbsp water.  Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, microwave, stir, microwave, stir.

2. Dump a bunch of sugar in your kitchen aid mixer bowl.  Dump in the melted marshmallows.  Grab your dough hook and dip it in the shortening (about 2 tbsp).  Turn the mixer on low and knead for about a minute.

3.  Slowly add more shortening and more sugar until you have used all the ingredients.  Keep the dough hook kneading that mushy goodness.  

**If you don't have a fancy mixer, you can do all of this by hand.  Please refer to the Wilton Rolled Fondant instructions.

4. If the fondant tears easily, add more water (it's dry, just a teaspoon, though).  The fondant should be smooth and elastic, however mine was not, and it still worked out.

5.  Double wrap the fondant in saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.  I couldn't pick my fondant up to wrap, so I poured mine onto a large piece of saran and then wrapped it.

6.  To use, sprinkle a ton of 10x sugar on the counter top, cover your hands and rolling pin with sugar, too.  Just like with dough, the more powder that is on your work area, the easier the dough is to use.

I made a couple of batches to do this three layer wedding cake. 

This recipe makes 2 lbs of fondant.