Happy Spring!

It’s just the start of the celebration here..

I was in the mood to bake something cute (and tasty of course) the other day, so I let the first day of spring be my muse (and excuse).

I really wanted to make fondant butterflies.  They are such a sweet, easy touch to any cake or cupcake, and the girls love them.

And the fondant contains marshmallows.

(I have a real thing for marshmallow lately..)

I use this recipe, and I have never gone back.  (It was part of an inspired message one month from my visiting teachers..)  It is just as easy, cheaper, and more tasty than your boxed variety.

And it has marshmallow in it…

(Have I said that already?)

If you are lazy, well then, here’s the recipe:

Marshmallow Fondant

• 8-ounce bag of marshmallows
• 2 pounds of powdered sugar (also called confectioner's sugar or icing sugar; you won't quite use all of it for this recipe)
• 2 tablespoons of water
• vegetable shortening (Crisco) for greasing hands and tools

Put the marshmallows and water in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high for about two minutes. The marshmallows should be puffy but will still hold their shape. Stir thoroughly until smooth.

Next, add about 1 1/2 pounds of the powdered sugar and stir with a spoon well greased with the Crisco. The homemade fondant at this point should be a very sticky dough.

Thoroughly grease your hands and work surface with the shortening and knead the fondant, adding a little bit of powdered sugar at a time until the mixture isn't sticky anymore. If it's sticky, add more sugar. If it's dry and tearing, add a teaspoon or two of water and knead it in. The homemade fondant recipe is finished when the dough is pliable and stretchy without tearing.

If you won't be using the marshmallow fondant recipe right away, cover it with a little bit more Crisco and wrap it well with plastic wrap. Seal it in a bag and keep it in the refrigerator, where it will last for several weeks.

You can color and flavor it like you can the nasty boxed kind too.     

After I have colored parts, I roll it out with the help of lots of powdered sugar, and use my tiny butterfly cookie cutter to cut out lots of little butterflies.  I will lay some flat to dry, and others I lay over the edge of a thick edged platter to get that about to take off look. 

I pinch off a small piece of the yellow fondant and roll it like a short snake, then pinch the end for the body.  One year, I got all detail oriented and used my fingernail to make little lines for the segments.

Then you leave them there to dry.  The thinner your fondant is rolled out, the quicker they dry.

I attach the bodies to the wings by pipng a little bit of buttercream using the smallest tip I have.

Then they can go onto cupcakes…

Or a cake…

 

We teased the girls, telling them that we couldn’t eat the cake until 5:21 pm on Sunday (the OFFICIAL start of spring).

Surprisingly, they waited patiently!