Hi all,

I usually use Satin Ice, but everyone on here raves about how good mmf tastes and how easy & cheap it is to make, so I thought I'd give it a try. Major Fail.

After browsing several mmf recipes on this site, I finally settled on the one from MacsMom. I followed this recipe to the letter. It was so dry & crumbly, and there was at least 2 cups of ps left that absolutely would not knead in. I even re-microwaved it for about 15 seconds...twice, hoping to get it sticky enough to knead again. I ended up throwing it into the trash, as the best I could get was teeny-tiny crumbly bits, all in a big pile. Couldn't make a ball if I tried!

My marshmallows were not jet-puffed, but they were getting close to the expiration date. Could that have been the culprit?

So, my question for all you mmf makers...would you please share you favorite "tried & true" mmf recipe with me? And, even better....if you make yours with a KitchenAid, rather than hand-kneading, I'll love you even more! I have a Pro600, so it should be able to handle it, and my arms would really thank you! TIA...

Loved T's Marshmellow Fondant.

I always add about a tablespoon of glucose to my mmf and I never have a problem with it. Maybe your marshmallows were your problem causing it to be crumbly. You should try again because it really is quite tasty and easy to work with. Not to mention alot cheaper than store bought.

Thank you....do either of you knead it with a KitchenAid? I really, REALLY want a good recipe that I don't have to hand knead!

T's would be it then. I mix in a grease bowl with a wooden spoon.

Hi Greengyrl,

I'm curious, did you microwave and how long you cooked the marshmellows? It sounds like you might have over-cooked them... just at first thought.

I had very good luck with MMF when I started, and then it started going really bad so I set out to find out why and what went wrong. Here is some things I came up with:

I use 20 oz of marshmellows rather than 16 oz. I don't use water. I do use shortening. I don't put hot marshmellows straight into the powdered sugar (I let it cool a little, it was causing clumps of PS I knead and knead and knead until it passes my test (I hold it up to see how fast it stretches with gravity pulling it down, if it's fast... more PS if it's slow check for tears. With tears add shortening and recheck gravity, if no tears and slow you're good to go!) I always mix my color into the melted marshmellows (It's eay to stir in, you make it a tad darker for the PS will lighten it). Roll it on cornstarch.

I had the exact same problem as what I've been hearing... the first couple of batches were great and then they started getting worse.

Something I probably did with the the first batch ever was being overly cautious. You're going slow, just trying to make everything go right. Then as I had a few under my belt, I though "making MMF is nothing.. I'll just slam out a batch". Yeah, the MMF corrected me. I couldn't figure out all my problems so I started doing practice cakes with test runs on fondant and I turned to help on the Cake Central forum.

The recipe I use said 16 oz of marshmallows with 2 pounds of PS I changed mine to about 20 oz of MM to 2 pounds PS This also helped because instead of trying to make the original recipe stretch to fit as much cake as possible, I had more fondant and could roll it reasonably thin and still have a lot to cover a couple of cakes.

I don't add water. Never have.
I now run a coating of shortening around the bowl to help get as much melted marshmallow as I can out.

I heat the marshmallows on high, first 30 seconds, then another 15 seconds. I honestly believe if you over heat them they can get stiff and will cause problems down the line. They may not be mushy looking on top, but if they have puffed in size that is plenty. When you start to stir them, the hotter bottom mallows will melt them the rest of the way. If you are going to add color now is the time. Remember the whole batch will be this color, so if you need multiple colors you will be making multiple batches. Add the color to the MM a little darker than what you want, cause the PS will lighten it. If you are not coloring and want it white, stir it anyway you need all the MM melted and it helps to start nice and smooth. Let it cool for about 5 minutes or so. This stopped the lumps I was getting in the PS

Get a big mixing bowl and put some PS in the bottom. Pour in the MM and then pour more PS on top. Grease up those hands really good with shortening and start to flip the PS and MM together. I try to imagine what a dough mixer would do and work the fondant in that manner. It takes a little for the MM to get covered to where it wont stick, and once it does you need to twist and turn it until its sticky insides are outside so you can pick up more PS with it. If you never get the sticky to pick up more PS youre not going to get the mixture you need. Keep working its guts inside out to pick up more PS

If it starts to get dry and the surface of the ball I am making starts to tear or looks rough, I take some shortening and coat the entire outside of the ball. Not a ton of shortening, just enough to make a good sheen coat around the ball. Then I work that in before going for more gut turning and PS

I now have an idea about when it is ready by using a gravity test. I hold the ball up loosely over the bowl and watch how its own weight pulls it down. This is a good idea of how it will act once ON the cake. So picture it that way if it stretches a lot, itll stretch on the cake. You need more structure to hold it so keep working in PS If it stretches and tears, add some shortening and then PS When it is just right it should stretch under its own weight, but very little and veeeeerrrryy slow.

Cover youre rolling area with cornstarch. Make a ball out of the fondant, and then work it by hand out to a pizza shape. Set it down on the cornstarch and roll it out. Roll a little, rotate, roll a little, and rotate. If it sticks add more cornstarch. You may need to re-ball it and start again.

Ive gotten to where I can make a batch, roll it and cover a 12 two layer cake in about 35 minutes. Not bad for making the fondant from scratch.

I hope this helps, again this is just the way I have learned to make it. Advice on letting the fondant set over night is VERY wise as the color sets better.

If you want to read through the whole thread there was tons of great advice:
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=661615&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0

Here is another thread when I was asking for help... I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6530644-.html#6530644

Hope that helps Good Luck!

You know I just re-read that and the mellow cook time should say heat 30 seconds, heat another 30 seconds, then heat 15 seconds.

I know.. Im weird for stopping in the middle rather than doing a whole 1:15... but I'm always afraid I'll actually cook the mellows.

Probably just superstitious or OCD