Easy Marshmallow Creme Fondant Icing

Note: This makes enough fondant to cover a standard-sized cake plus anything you could possibly think of to decorate it with. I’ve never used up the whole batch on one cake.

Start out by microwaving your marshmallow creme for 20–30 seconds, or as long as necessary to loosen it up and help it easily come out of the jar, wasting as little as possible. Scoop the warm marshmallow creme into a shortening-greased bowl with a small rubber spatula.

Add the extract flavoring to the warm creme and stir well. Be sure to use clear-colored flavorings if your fondant will be tinted a light color (or if you need a bright white).

At this point, you can mix in your food coloring. The addition of powdered sugar shouldn’t have much of an effect on the base color tint, so you’ll have a pretty good idea of what color you’re making. It is WAY easier and tidier to tint it at this stage than to knead the coloring in later with your hands. If making multiple colors, divide creme into bowls and tint each bowl.

Next, begin shaking in powdered sugar, stirring after the addition of each cup or two. (A wooden spoon greased with Crisco is a big help for stirring the fondant.)

When the mixture starts to thicken and is no longer manageable with a spoon, cover your clean hands with Crisco and begin kneading. It’s a good idea to put the remaining powdered sugar in a bowl or pitcher so you don’t have to keep touching the sugar bag with greasy/sticky hands. OR, if you have a high-powered speed mixer, you can use a dough hook to form the fondant without using your hands.

Continue working in small amounts of powdered sugar until fondant is somewhat tacky, but no longer sticky or gooey. You’ll probably have a little bit of powdered sugar left from the amount you started with, which is good because you’ll need a little bit when you roll it out later.

If you are making the fondant in advance, this is the point at which you can form the fondant into one large blob, cover with as much Crisco as possible, and place it inside a sealed, gallon-sized Ziploc bag, removing as much excess air as possible before sealing.

If using right away, roll out fondant to about 1/4″ thick (no more) and transfer onto a buttercream-iced cake.

Here’s a great trick! You can roll it out onto a large piece of parchment or wax paper that’s been dusted in confectioner’s sugar if you’re worried about transferring it to the cake with the pin. Just roll it, flip it over the cake, and peel the paper off.