Marshmallow Icing - Super-Easy but not Fat Free

By mariannefeldman

Super-Easy Marshmallow Icing

kingarthurflour
This ridiculously easy recipe produces a thick, glossy icing, very similar to cooked 7-minute icing, or Swiss or Italian meringue. It's easily flavored to taste — we provide instructions here for chocolate and coffee icing, as well as vanilla — and it's perfect for piping atop cupcakes or filling a layer cake, as it holds its shape indefinitely. And unlike classic buttercream, it won't wilt or melt in the heat. With just three main ingredients — cream, marshmallows, and confectioners' sugar — there's no need to separate eggs, nor search the cupboard for meringue powder. And with no added fat, beyond that in the whipped cream, it's a lower-calorie alternative to more traditional frostings — though you'd never know it, it's that rich and tasty!

Recipe summary
Hands-on time:
5 mins. to 10 mins.
Baking time:
Total time:
1 hrs 10 mins. to 3 hrs 15 mins.
Yield:
3 to 4 cups, enough for 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 layer cake
Tips from our bakers
This basic white icing can be flavored to taste. To make chocolate icing, add 1/2 cup Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder to the marshmallows and cream before heating. For coffee icing, add 2 teaspoons espresso powder to the marshmallows and cream before heating; once the marshmallows are melted, increase the flavor, if desired, by adding additional espresso powder to taste.
If you let the icing chill completely in the fridge, it'll be stiff and harder to beat. But just keep beating, it'll gradually soften as it warms up.
For pure white icing, omit the vanilla. But if you're OK with off-white icing, the vanilla adds rich flavor.

Ingredients

• Volume Ounces Grams
• 2 cups (2 pint) heavy or whipping cream
• 1 bag (10 1/2 ounces) marshmallows; mini-marshmallows are easiest to use
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, optional

Preparation

Step 1

Directions
1) Place the cream, marshmallows, confectioners' sugar, and salt in a large, deep saucepan.
2) Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the marshmallows melt completely.
3) Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla, if you're using it.
4) Pour the icing into the bowl of your stand mixer or another mixing bowl, and refrigerate until it's completely cool (though not necessarily chilled), about 2 hours.
5) Beat the icing on high speed, using your stand mixer or an electric eggbeater; it's impossible to whip fully by hand, so please use a machine. The icing will expand a bit in volume, and lighten in color.
5) Beat until the icing is the consistency you like; as you continue to beat it, it'll soften just a bit.
6) Spread or pipe the icing atop cupcakes, or use it to fill a round layer cake, or ice a 9" x 13" sheet cake.
Yield: 3 to 4 cups icing, enough to ice 24 cupcakes, one 8" or 9" round layer cake, or one 9" x 13" cake.