I first tried cake decorating with fondant a few years ago. I used store-bought fondant and was really underwhelmed with the taste. At the time, I was wedding planning  and all my fellow wedding-planning friends pretty much help the same opinion of fondant so I dismissed it as something that was pretty but didn’t necessarily taste the best.

I’d heard that marshmallow fondant was better but I didn’t have a good reason to try again – until I saw a picture of a Mystery Machine cake online. I knew it would be the perfect birthday cake for my brother-in-law. I used this recipe from Chef Mommy – she’s got a great step-by-step tutorial and other helpful tips. This fondant really was better than any other I’d had before. I was pleased – I’ll definitely use this for cakes from now on.

For this cake, I split the cake batter between two loaf pans and inverted one on the other for the van shape. The wheels were Oreos and the lettering was gel icing. The rest of the decorations were made with the fondant.

This was a huge hit at the birthday party – it looked fun and tasted great!

Marshmallow Fondant
(from Chef Mommy)

16 oz.mini marshmallows
2 lb. powdered sugar
1/4 c. water
1/2 t. vanilla
Vegetable shortening

 Lightly grease a microwave safe bowl with shortening. Add the marshmallows and the water. Microwave at 30 second intervals until all of the marshmallows are melted. In between intervals, stir the marshmallows with a lightly greased rubber spatula.

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 vanilla and let mix until most of the powder and marshmallow comes together – about three minutes.

Lightly grease the stand mixer’s dough cook with shortening and switch from paddle to dough hook. Knead on low until smooth – about five minutes.

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. The fondant can be colored with gel coloring – just add the desired amount and knead until the color is disbursed throughout the ball.