Fondant Firsts

So, I am totally obsessed with the show Cake Boss on TLC! I absolutely love the show and I love the way that the cakes look!! Although, I've always wondered how they taste! I will have to travel to New York sometime and try them out myself!
I've also always wondered how homemade fondant tastes in general!!  So I started doing some research to learn more about fondant and how to make it!! I found out that real fondant is a little tricky to make; but there is an "easier" version that has a base of marshmallow that is a little more simple for beginners (ME).  So I decided to give it a try!
WARNING: YOU AND YOUR KITCHEN WILL BE DESTROYED AFTER MAKING FONDANT!
It's SOOOO much fun to make, but very messy! (Especially for this girl!)

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe:
4 cups mini marshmallows (half 16 oz. bag)
4 cups powdered sugar + extra for dusting counter
2 Tablespoons water
Vegetable shortening for non-stick counter purposes (believe me! This is a must!)
(Food coloring or flavored extracts if desired)

1. To prepare counter for kneading and mixing: Grease counter with shortening and then sprinkle heavily with powdered sugar.  YES, you will get messy!!

2. Place marshmallows in a microwave-safe bowl along with the 2T. of water.  Microwave on high for one minute.  After removing from the microwave, stir until smooth.  If there are still un-melted marshmallows, place back into the microwave for about 30 seconds. Remove once again and stir until smooth.

3. After the marshmallows are completely melted, stir in powdered sugar until the consistency becomes too hard to stir and dough-like.  After the mixture becomes more like a dough, pour contents  onto counter and knead by hand until very stiff.  You may need to add more powdered sugar to get the dough to be the right consistency.  I had to experiment a few times before getting it to work as I needed it to.

4. Create beautiful pieces and cakes with this dough and you are finished!! BE CREATIVE!  I will say, rolling out the fondant and getting onto the cake was the hardest part!  Once it became less sticky, I was able to roll it up and over the cake without tearing it or getting fingerprints in it!  It takes some work, but you'll be able to make amazing designs and sculptures out of this stuff!

*One source that I found for making the fondant said to make sure and sift the powdered sugar before stirring into the marshmallow.  I tried it both ways and could not tell a difference! So who
knows... lol.

So what I did was I "dirty iced" a cake and then laid the fondant over the top.  You must frost a cake first before putting fondant on so that the fondant will stick to your cake!  After getting the fondant on the cake I had to cover up the bottom with something, so I lined it with frosting and then pushed chocolate chips into the frosting all around the bottom.
With the leftover fondant, I kneaded in gel food coloring and cut out circles and placed them all over the cake. Make sure you have frosting to stick your shapes onto the cake with!! And... Viola!! The cake was complete!

I have to say, the cake itself was really good!! I used a previous recipe's (Chocolate Ganache Cake) chocolate cake for the cake so I knew that part would taste good.  The fondant was a little too sweet for my taste; but then again... Fondant is just for decoration purposes... kind of. haha.

Anyways, good luck and enjoy!  Feel free to ask me questions or tell me about your own fondant experiences! I would love to hear them! Hasta luego!