Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant Disaster. "help Please!!

Decorating By sugarprincess Updated 20 May 2008 , 11:26am by weddingsbymindy

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sugarprincess Posted 19 May 2008 , 7:28pm
post #1 of 6

OK, I followed the recipe directions exactly.

16oz miniature marshmallows
2 tbsp. water
1/2 cup chopped chocolate
1/2 cup of cocoa
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Melted all this in the microwave 2 to 3 minutes. Stirred the mixture until all the marshmallows and chocolate were melted.

Then the recipe said to add 6 - 7cups of icing sugar a little at a time. So I added 2 cups first and mixed it in the bowl with a spatula until it became a soft dough and took it out to knead on a greased surface. Well I could barely get 5 cups of icing sugar in the dough, it was so hard and was cracking already. I even melted more marshmallows and kneaded that into the dough. It certainly was not a soft and pliable dough. I had to heat it in the microwave a couple of times just to try and get the five cups of icing sugar.

What a horrible failure. I was so looking forward to trying this on a cake (just for practice at first) I love the look of fondant on cakes but can't stand the taste of the Wilton fondant. I am afraid to use it now. It is sitting on my counter wrapped up and I am debating on throwing the whole thing out.

I am hoping someone out there can please tell me what I did wrong or any suggestions to another well used recipe. Is there anyway to salvage this?

Thanks so much,

Lisa

5 replies
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JoAnnB Posted 19 May 2008 , 7:34pm
post #2 of 6

It sounds like it is just too dry. You can rarely use the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. With the added cocoa it would suck up a lot of the moisture.

I would let it sit for a while. Then warm it gently in the microwave-be careful-hot fondant will burn. Once it is warm, knead in a bit of shortening, maybe 1/4 cup. If that doesn't help, knead it wil moist/wet hands to add back some moisture.

If you want, start with only half of your 'disaster' batch, so it is easier to work with.

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sugarprincess Posted 19 May 2008 , 7:57pm
post #3 of 6

Thanks so much,

I have never made homemade fondant before so I didn't realize I could add shortening to it if it was too dry.

I will do this tonight and hopefully everything will work out. Maybe it is not a failure after all!

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Texas_Rose Posted 19 May 2008 , 8:40pm
post #4 of 6

I used the same recipe (I think) and I had the same results. Everyone liked the taste of it but there was no way to work with it. I tried adding glycerin to soften it but it didn't help.

Try a regular marshmallow fondant first. Here's the one I always use: http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm

I've also made chocolate marshmallow fondant with the recipe from that link...I just added 3/4 cup special dark cocoa powder instead of 1 cup of powdered sugar.

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candynumber1 Posted 20 May 2008 , 2:12am
post #5 of 6

I've made the chocolate fondant, just as you described, but I didn't use all the powdered sugar as the recipe suggested.

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weddingsbymindy Posted 20 May 2008 , 11:26am
post #6 of 6

Water & chocolate are not friends. I make chocolate mmf but you don't need to add water! I have found water makes mmf fragile it will not stretch as nice with water in the recipe simply exclude it. Also I wouldn't use water based extracts but oil based candy flavors

When I make chocolate mmf I use chocolate chips melted with corn syrup added, it will become a dough on its own then you can knead together with nearly done mmf

1 melt chocolate with shortening to create a paste 2 melt mm 3 stir the two together 4 knead powdered sugar into the mix until is gets stiff 5 gently reheat and add more sugar 6 if you can let it rest overnight it will be nicer 7 reheat but first cut into smaller had full size pieces so heating will be more even. Keep in mind mmf heats up from the inside out 8 I like to knead mmf in a large cake pan 1/2 filled with powdered sugar, less mess.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions please pm me

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