Fondant fun

Fondant is one of my favorite things on a cake. I love marshmallow fondant. At the end of the post you will find a marshmallow fondant recipe that we found online at recipiezaar.com.

Here is my birthday cake. I love this cake because it looks beautiful and tastes good. My mom made most of the cake but I did help. How I did the color was I just dyed it to the color I wanted with food coloring. For a Mother's Day party we made these cupcakes.

We made these for a Memorial Day BBQ.

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

1¼ hours | 1 hour prep

1 Cake

• 16 ounces white mini marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
• 2-5 tablespoons water
• 2 lbs icing sugar (please use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results)
• 1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl) or you can just spray your hands and work surface with Pam like we did

1. Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted.
2. It usually takes about 2 ½ minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix. (Our second time making it we put it in the Kitchen Aid mixer with a greased dough hook)
3. Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY - palms, backs and in between fingers, then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.
4. Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.
5. Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more.
6. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant is sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about ½ tablespoon at a time then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.
7. Its best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.
8. Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic- type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.
9. MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make 2 batches on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant can be prepared well in advance.

Pipe Cleaners Have Gone Crazy

Pipe cleaners rock!!! You can make almost anything with pipe cleaners. All you need is pipe cleaners. You can use nail clippers to cut the pipe cleaners. To cut the pipe cleaners you need to fold where you want to cut.

The first thing you need to know before going crazy is what I call is the swirly thing. To do this, wrap the pipe cleaner around your finger. Then slide the pipe cleaner off of your finger and pull the pipe cleaner a little bit. That will make the pipe cleaner longer. If you pull very hard the pipe cleaner will not turn out right. This picture is what yours could look like.

You can swirl another way just like my example. You take the tip of the pipe cleaner and curl it till you want to stop.I have done many cool things with pipe cleaners. This picture is all of the things I have done so far.

Teacher Time

I thought of this idea while at a party with five year old kids. One of the kids wanted me to make homework sheets. Two different kids came to me and asked me if they could have homework sheets too.

To make homework sheets you need paper and something to write with. Write on the paper like the example. I used a black marker to write the questions. The kids, my students, wrote in pencil. You can do different numbers or letters.

Webkinz Dice

A Webkinz dice is for you to roll to choose a pet to do or get something. If you don't have a Webkinz you may use different stuffed animals.

To make a Webkinz dice you need to find 1 block or a box with a lid(I will just call it a box), paper, glue, a marker, and scissors.Take the box, paper, and glue, and then you want to glue the paper to the box. Cover the box all the way. It might be tricky to cover the whole box but if you need a little help you may use scissors. I had to use scissors too. When you are done covering the box grab the marker and write your Webkinz names or other names on the box. When you are done with the names it will look like this.