Spring Gluten-Free Cupcakes with Marshmallow Fondant
A spring-themed recipe for gluten-free cupcakes with tips for making homemade marshmallow fondant perfect for Easter or a spring gathering. This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company. The opinions and text are all my own.
My daughter, Lauren, loves to bake and decorate cupcakes and she’s actually really, really good at it. I taught her how to use fancy decorating tips to pipe frosting and she has come up with some really cool designs. I love teaching her valuable skills and spending quality time together in the kitchen. We partnered with Pillsbury to “mix up a moment” and try out their new baking mix for gluten-free cupcakes.
She’s always been really crafty, like the time when she made me a cool cupcake out of play dough and a straw. We took a cupcake decorating class at a local craft store a few years ago and they taught us how to work with fondant and make different embellishments. Flowers are her favorite. She asked if we could bake some gluten-free cupcakes for spring that her dad could eat, too (he’s gluten-free for health reasons) and decorate them with flowers for spring. Lauren has been wanting to experiment with marshmallow fondant. Of course, I said “yes!!” I knew it would be a great opportunity to “mix up a moment” with Pillsbury Gluten-Free Baking products and hang out with my favorite girl.
Since she wanted to be very independent with this baking project, so we headed over to Walmart and grabbed the new Pillsbury Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcake Mix and Vanilla Marshmallow frosting.
This makes it very economical and convenient, allowing her to spend more time on all her fancy decorating. Now, you guys know how much I love making cakes, cupcakes, and frostings from scratch, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to whip up something quickly and save a little money, too. Walmart is a great place to stock up on these Pillsbury Gluten-Free products.
The first step was to make the fondant the day before. It needs to be refrigerated overnight.
Here’s all you need to make the fondant:
1 (16 oz) bag mini marshmallows
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 lbs confectioner’s sugar
gel food coloring
cooking spray
Melt marshmallows in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after every 30 seconds until smooth. Allow to cool, then stir in water and vanilla extract. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and gradually add in powdered sugar, mixing on low speed, until all but 1 cup sugar is incorporated (save the remaining sugar for kneading the fondant). Turn mixture out onto a surface dusted with powdered sugar. Spray your hands with cooking spray and knead fondant mixture, using some of the extra sugar to coat the surface so you can work the mixture. Separate into several balls and add a few drops of gel food coloring to achieve a pastel-colored fondant. We made three different colors for our decorations. Wrap each fondant ball in plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, Lauren got busy baking. I was anxious to see if these cupcakes baked up as fluffy and moist as their gluten-filled counterparts. As you can see, they are perfect! I was really impressed with the volume, taste, and texture of these cupcakes.
Now the decorating fun begins! Allow the fondant to sit out at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Roll the fondant ball out onto a dry surface generously dusted with powdered sugar. Use small cutting tools or cookie cutters to make some fun designs. We used a glass to cut the circles for the cupcake toppers.
Lauren made these pretty roses by cutting out 5-6 small circles and placing them on top of each other, only overlapping them on the ends. Next, carefully roll them up and pinch the bottom together. They end up like this:
She makes larger flowers by layering the circles on a toothpick.
Then carefully pulls them off the pick to create a pretty flower, like the blue and pink ones on these cupcakes…
Lauren did a great job with the fondant colors, they turned out so pretty! We had fun making our designs and the best part was getting to spend the day in the kitchen with my favorite little foodie.
When you assemble your cupcakes, spread a small layer of the Pillsbury frosting. Lauren loves the Vanilla Marshmallow flavor and it goes well with the marshmallow fondant.
Ingredients
- For the Fondant:
- 1 16 oz bag mini marshmallows
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 2 lbs confectioner’s sugar
- gel food coloring
- cooking spray
- For the Cupcakes:
- 1 box Pillsbury Gluten Free Vanilla Cake mix prepared according to package directions
- 1 container Pillsbury Vanilla Marshmallow Frosting
Instructions
- Melt marshmallows in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after every 30 seconds until smooth.
- Allow to cool, then stir in water and vanilla extract.
- Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and gradually add in powdered sugar, mixing on low speed, until all but 1 cup sugar is incorporated (save the remaining sugar for kneading the fondant). Turn mixture out onto a surface dusted with powdered sugar.
- Spray your hands with cooking spray and knead fondant mixture, using some of the extra sugar to coat the surface so you can work the mixture.
- Separate into several balls and add a few drops of gel food coloring to achieve a pastel fondant. We made three different colors for our decorations.
- Wrap each fondant ball in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
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Hi,
These looks really CUTE, a brilliant recipe and so easy to make- I made these cupcakes yesterday and they were delicious.
Thanks so much!
You’re welcome Natalee! Thank you!
I love how you bake with your daughter and what a lovely baker she is. I used to cook with my sons when they lived at home so now I just get the odd message asking a cooking question. Now I have my niece to bake with when she comes to visit xoxo
I bet your niece loves baking with her very talented aunt! 🙂