DIY Marshmallow Fondant Pumpkins

OK, so I kind of missed the boat on cute pumpkin-themed treats for the months of October and November. I mean, I made pumpkin spice cake a few weeks back, but that was it. It’s not that I don’t like pumpkin — I was just too much in denial about the changing of the seasons. Looking back, it’s kind of a shame, because I missed out on all kinds of great pumpkin goodies.  

For example, these little fondant pumpkins would have been perfect for topping Halloween and Thanksgiving-themed desserts. Can you imagine biting into a pumpkin cupcake with a fat little edible fondant pumpkin perched on top of the frosting? Adorable. But, it would probably be kind of a waste because don’t think I could bring myself to eat something so cute. As it is, I’ll probably have to spackle these to preserve them forever…

In general, the thought of eating fondant isn’t appealing — it make cakes look fantastic, but you hear all kinds of stories about how it actually tastes terrible. I’d take a good cream-based frosting for my cakes any day, but this marshmallow-based fondant actually isn’t too bad. It’s basically just melted marshmallow mixed with powdered sugar, so all it tastes like is very sweet candy. Dan actually ate 4 or 5 lumps of fondant as a snack last night (reject pumpkins that didn’t have the right color) and looked kind of disappointed when I put the rest away. Go figure. Either way, this fondant is fun to play with and good for making cute cake toppers, so I’m definitely going to file this recipe away for future reference.

Marshmallow Fondant Pumpkins (Barely adapted from the Courtney’s Sweets’ recipe)

Steps:
(1) In a large microwavable bowl, combine 2 tablespoons water and the mini marshmallows. Microwave for about 1-1/2 minutes.
** I only had 1 full 10.5oz bag of mini marshmallows, and a mostly empty bag of another. I think I ended up using about 13 total oz. of marshmallows.
(2) Stir to make sure each marshmallow is melted, then add about 3/4 of the powdered sugar.
(3) Once a ball forms, turn your fondant out onto a sugar-dusted counter top and knead by hand for about 5-8 minutes.
**If the fondant is too dry add a little bit of water; if it’s too sticky, add a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
(4) Divide your fondant in half. Grease one half, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and stick it in the fridge.
** You can use all of your fondant at once if you want, but I only used about 1/3-1/2 of mine to make about eight 1-1/2 inch pumpkins.
(5) Pull off about 1/3 of your remaining fondant, and set it aside.  This will be used for your pumpkins stems/leaves.
(6) Divide the larger lump of fondant into about 8-9 pieces, and color them individually. If you have gel coloring, that’s best, but otherwise regular food coloring is fine (just harder to incorporate). Keep adding orange/red/orange coloring a drop at a time until you achieve your desired pumpkin color.
** Adding food coloring will make your fondant sticky — just sprinkle on a little powdered sugar and knead until your fondant is smooth and uniformly colored. 
(7) Roll each lump into a ball, then gently flatten the ball on both sides to form a vaguely pumpkin shape.
(8) Using a bamboo skewer or the back of a butter knife, cut/press 6 evenly-spaced lines down the side of each ball. Also, make an indentation on top of each ball to make room for the stem/leaves.
(9) Take the smaller lump of fondant, and color with green food coloring a drop at a time until it’s the color you want. Pinch off small pieces and foll them into cylinders for the stem. Use your butter knife to cut leaf-shaped pieces with the rest of the fondant.
(10) Press one leaf and a stem into the indentation you made on top of each pumpkin. Repeat until all fondant is used.