I made these four mini cakes for fun this week. I baked a 6″ square cake and filled it with chocolate ganache. I used a 2″ round cutter to cut out four small cakes. Crumb coated them with ganache and covered them with chocolate and regular marshmallow fondant.
Happy Caking
Louise
September 30th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
those are gorgeous! Does the MMF taste really good? I’d guess it’s much more delicious than regular fondant, but I’ve never tried it out.
October 1st, 2007 at 2:37 am
Hi Louise, what’s the difference between MMF and the regular fondant in terms of ease of working with and taste. If i want to cover a wedding cake, which should i use?
October 1st, 2007 at 9:17 am
Thank you Minnie~Knits and Yan!
I must say that the MMF taste better than I thought, but you can add flavours to it yourself.
The thing with MMF is that you simply melt marshmellows, a bit of water and a bit of shortning. When it turns liquid you simply stir&knead in icing sugar and thats that.
I find it difficult to make regular fondant (the one with gelatine) But as there is gelatine in the mm its much easier. I also think is gives the cake a more silky look. Thats with the reg. MMF not chocolate.
What to choose is up to you. One of my friends only use MMF when she cover her cakes. She crumb coat her cakes with chocolate ganache. 1 part chocolate & 1 part heavy cream. Bring cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Let it melt and then stir until smooth. Put it in the fridge to set up a bit. You want it to be soft and smooth before you use it on the cake.
When I made the MMF I took some photos. I will post them later this week.
Louise
October 1st, 2007 at 10:23 am
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
October 1st, 2007 at 7:49 pm
October 16th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
HI,
I love your mini cakes, they are perfect for a baby shower I am doing on Friday for my sister. Did you use the chocolate ganache under the pink also or did you use a white so it would not show through? I know how to make mmf, but how did you make yours chocolate? Chocolate chips? Cocoa? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks, Keli
October 17th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Hi Keli,
Well I am glad that you can use my ideas:-)
I used the chocolate ganache under the pink aswell. I add a bit of melted chocolate chips & some cocoa but I think that I will stick to only cocoa next time. I dont know if you add 2 tbsp of shortning to your MMF mixture?? As the chocolate MMF tend to crack a bit.
Louise
October 24th, 2007 at 5:27 am
How did you make the mini cakes? Is it just one layer of the cake or did you use multiple layers to make the cake that height (how many inches high is the cake?)?
October 26th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I had three cake layers and two ganache and I think they were about 2″ high.
November 12th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Hi Louise!
I check out your blog often - i is very helpful and I love your ideas and tutorials.
I have made a few cakes using the MM fondant - but it seems that the more color I add to the fondant, the more cracks I get when I actually lay it on the cake. Do you have any ideas/experience to help with the cracking? I thought that maybe the longer I knead the fondant to incorporate the color, the more cracking? Overall, I love the MMF because the taste is much more palatable -
Thanks!
November 15th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Hi Kara,
Thanks I am glad you like my site!
The few times I have made MMF I have been adding 2 tbsp. of Crisco when I put the mm in the microwave.
Also I color my MMF when the mixture is liquid. I then have some white MMF if the colour gets too dark.
Do you let your MMF rest overnight before use? I know some does and some dont. I always hold back some of the icing sugar to the next day.
Do you knead in Crisco before you roll it out??
Hmm lot of question from me now:-)
Let me hear what you do.
Louise
November 18th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Hi Louise!
Well, to answer your questions - yes, I did let the MMF rest overnight before use, but I only do that becasue the person I got the recipe from suggested it.
Also, I color the MMF AFTER it has sat overnight, and that is a ton of work. I am glad to hear that you add the color before adding your sugar, while the MM is still liquid. I will try that next time.
And yes, I do add Crisco when I roll out the MMF. I am hoping that the next time I make this, the crakcing will be less becuase I will add the color at the beginning stage and not let it sit overnight. I will let you know if I have success!
Thanks for the helpful tips -
Kara
November 26th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Hi Kara,
I know from one of my friends who is a master to do cakes with MMF. She told me be careful with adding the color after as is tends to crack lot more.
Louise
January 9th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Hi Louise…I just love your site. I just found you tonight and am so happy with all the new ideas & advise. I was wondering if you would post the MMF recipe? Thank you and I look forward to checking in regularly!
~Justine
January 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Hi Justine,
Yes I will see what I can do.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:04 am
hi louise!! want you to know you have a fan here from papua new guinea! i stumbled upon your site a few months back and till now i always check it out.. i find your site very helpful. i can’t find crisco here, can i just use vegetable oil or butter/margarine?
thank you so much for sharing your wonderful tips!
josh=)
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 am
Josh: You can find my reply under the marshmallow post.
April 19th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Hi Louise,
These mini cakes are absolutely adorable. I’ll be doing my first mini cakes for a wedding in June… 150 of them to be exact. I was just wondering if you reccomend that I put a small cake circle under each of the cakes? Or just put them straight on to the display stand? I plan on building the cake stand based on the tutorial you gave (totally awesome by the way). I’ll be covering them in mm fondant. Also, how far in advance do you think I can start putting them together without them drying out? Any reccomended timeline?
Thanks for your help!
-Tara
April 21st, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Tara: I can see that with 150 mini cakes you have some planning to do:-) I would put them on cake circles. They will look wonderful on such cake stand.
What type of cake are you planing to use and will you have a filling as well?
If I was the one making 150 mini cakes I would bake a cake there can go in the freezer. Chocolate cakes often taste better by a trip in the freezer and I would use a dark chocolate ganache as a filling. Offcourse if you live in a very hot area chocolate ganache may not be the best choice? Also I would soak my cake with a nice sugar syrup to give the cakes moisture.
Are you planning to bake larger cakes and cut out smaller cakes? because that is a real time saver.
So I would make all the mini cakes in advance without the mmf. If you can store your cakes in a “cold” room I would make them over two days including the decoration of the cakes. What kind of deco will you be using?? Is it something that you can make in advance to save time?
Also another good thing is to try cover 1 mini cake so you can get a feeling on how much mmf each cake takes when covered. I would recomend only to roll out for 1 cake at a time because just because they are small they can take some time and the rest of the mmf will dry slightly and cause cracks. So if you know how much 1 cake takes you can then have small portions of mmf ready when you are about to cover the cakes.
I hope you can use some of it… and good luck with the project.
May 6th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Hi Louise!
Thank you so much for your reply! Yes, I do have quite a bit of planning to do! And to be honest, I’m a little bit freaked out at the moment that it’s not all going to come together! My concern is that the wedding is on a Saturday afternoon and I still have my regular full-time job schedule to work around. I’m also doing all of this out of my 700 sq ft. apartment, so no “cold room” available here.
The bride wants to have marble cake, and she wasn’t sure about which filling she wanted. I think the chocolate ganache idea sounds great. And the mini cakes are actually going to be square, not round. This, I know, poses even more of a difficulty when covering with mmf. But I definitely plan on doing a trial run. I do plan to bake it as a large sheet cake and then cut them in to squares from there. I figured that would probably be the easiest way to go.
The decor is going to be really simple. It is a black and white theme. So I’ll use the white mmf, with a black ribbon around the bottom edge of each cake, and a black heart outline (piped out of royal icing) sticking out of the top of the cake. I’ll definitely pipe the hearts ahead of time so that I can just poke them in when I’m ready. I am concerned about getting the royal icing REALLY black though. But that might me a whole other issue
So as far as assembly… Would you suggest I do it in this order?:
1. Bake
2. Fill and cut in to squares
3. Brush on sugar syrup then freeze?
Then after they’re frozen, should I let them thaw before covering? Do I need to put anything else on the cakes before covering them in the mmf? If I start covering the cakes with the mmf 2 days in advance, what is the best way to store them? Will they dry out?
Sorry for all the questions!! You are such a big help! I can’t wait to send you a pic when it’s all done!!
May 6th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Tara:
You could also use a BC as filling? it will work just as good.
1: yes
2: yes
3: yes, but I would also give then a thin coat of chocolate ganache or BC and then into the freezer.
To get reel black icing use Americolor and color the icing 2 days in advance. Do not at this stage try to obtain 100% black as the color will develop. When you are going to use it then give it more color if needed.
I will look forward to see pics:D
May 6th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Hi Louise,
Yeah, I think I might just stick with BC then. I think the chocolate ganache would be really good, but BC is easy, simple, and quick.
Ok… so simple sugar wash, then BC, then freezer. Got it.
Now, how about storage? Will they be OK if I leave them out on the counter covered with plastic wrap?
Thanks for the tip on the black icing!! I was really worried about it, but I’m sure with your suggestion, it will all work out!
Thanks again!!!
-Tara
May 8th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Hi Tara,
If they are not covered with rolled fondant plastic wrap would be fine but if they are covered just store them in cardboard cake boxes.
As long as the cake is moisten with sugar syrup, buttercream and covered in rolled fondant should not dry them out.
I am sure it will all work out. As long as you have it all planned
Louise
May 17th, 2008 at 4:35 am
WOW!!! you are so kind in giving all these instructions. i have some questions: When you fill a large cake, and you cut the 2″ cakes, don’t they make a mess with the filling? I’m affraid that if I cut the circules, the first layer could slip off the second because of the filling. How can I prevent this? Wouldn’t be easier if I freeze the cake before cutting it? Sorry for this questions but I’ve never done this kind of cakes before.
Thank you.
May 17th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Ana: offcourse you need to chill the cakes first before cutting into squares or circules. That will make them a better to handle.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I love all the advice on making MMF. I am experimenting with this type of frosting. My question is about the MMF once I applied it to the cake itself. Mine is difficult to cut and serve the cake because I am finding that it is wanting to stick to the knife. I am wondering if this is because I did not add enough icing sugar (sifted) before it was rolled and used. Could this be my problem?? Much appreciated, Thank you !
September 26th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Melissa: Unless your MMF was very sticky when you roll it out then I dont think that more icing sugar would make it better. Not sure why maybe because it is MM used and not all sugar like the “normal” fondant.