Homemade Fondant

Do you think these school themed cupcake toppers are cute? Are you wondering how I made them?? Well, these and these and these were all made out of homemade fondant.

Fondant is something most people never make, unless they are seriously into baking. However, if you want to give it a try it's really is not that hard...messy-YES!, hard-NO!!

This is one of those recipes where a lot of visuals are helpful, so let's get started....step-by-step.

The Ingredients:

16 oz bag mini marshmallows
2lb bag powdered sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond flavoring (I like the no color vanilla)
vegetable shortening



Step 1: Lightly grease a microwave safe bowl with shortening. Add the marshmallows and the water.


Step 2: Microwave at 30 second intervals till all of the marshmallows are melted. In between intervals, stir the marshmallows with a lightly greased rubber spatula.


Step 3: Lightly coat the inside of a heavy duty stand mixer bowl and the paddle attachment with shortening. Add the powdered sugar to the bowl, reserving about a 1/4 cup. Carefully, pour in the melted marshmallow into the bowl. Turn the mixer on to low speed, add the liquid flavoring and let mix until most of the powder and marshmallow comes together....about 3 minutes.


Step 4: Coat a large cutting board or other clean work surface with a little shortening. Remove as much of the marshmallow mixture from the bowl as you can and place it on the work surface....this is where it gets really messy! Knead with hands until the fondant is smooth (about 5 minutes) adding more powdered sugar or shortening as needed.

Tip: Kneading all that fondant is hard work, so I break mine into two batches to make the job a little easier.


Tip: If the fondant is getting very hard to work with, loosely wrap it in plastic wrap and microwave for 5 seconds. Then continue kneading. If it is still a little hard to work with, microwave for another 5 seconds.

Step 5: Once your fondant is completely smooth and pliable, form it into a ball and tightly wrap it with plastic wrap that has been lightly greased with shortening. Then place inside a plastic Ziploc bag and store at room temperature until ready to use.


To color your fondant, simply add small amounts of gel food coloring and knead very well until fully incorporated and no streaking or marbling is seen.

More Tips:

Tip: I am not a food scientist, but I generally say that homemade fondant is best when used within 3 months of date made. Make sure that you store it well wrapped, so it does not dry out.

Tip: Never store fondant it the refrigerator or freezer.

Tip: When working with the fondant, make sure your hands and work surface are extremely clean. Fondant is like Play-doh and will pick up any bits of lint or crumb it comes in contact with.

Tip: If your fondant is a bit stiff or dry, loosely wrap it in plastic wrap and microwave for 5 seconds, then knead until more pliable.

Tip: Keep hands lightly greased with shortening when working with fondant to keep it soft and from sticking.

Tip: When making small cupcake decorations like the ones above, place them on parchment paper so they do not stick.

Tip: I like to save my "expired" fondant (any older than 3 months) to use as practice material for new projects.

Tip: Fondant is basically edible Play-doh. Let the kids (2 yrs and up!) play with it and see what they create!


Source: Bake at 350