Are you a marshmallow lover? If so, this quick and easy marshmallow frosting made with marshmallow fluff is for you! Add a taste of the pillowy sweet to your bakes and cakes with this sturdy and stable marshmallow buttercream.
Ingredients
For this quick marshmallow frosting, all you'll need is:
- Butter - unsalted butter, softened at room temperature.
- Powdered sugar - also known as icing sugar. If yours is particularly lumpy, I would recommend sifting it, but all measurements are based on pre-sifted sugar.
- Marshmallow cream - I like to use Fluff, but any marshmallow cream should work in this recipe.
- Vanilla extract - this is technically optional here, but I'm a firm lover of vanilla!
How to Make Marshmallow Frosting
This quick fluff frosting is super simple to whip up and follows the same basic process as other conventional American style buttercream recipes.
Begin by placing the softened butter and marshmallow fluff into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. The goal for buttercream recipes is not add air and so you don't want to use whisk attachments like you would for whipped creams.
Beat the butter and marshmallow cream together until combined and then sift in the powdered sugar. This can be done in one or two additions - personally I like doing it in two, to avoid a sugar cloud exploding in the kitchen!
As you are beating the powdered sugar in, add the vanilla extract. Scrape the sides of the bowl down with a spatula to make sure there are no patches of missed powdered sugar or butter sticking to the bottom of the bowl. Beat until smooth (a couple of minutes).
Tips on Adjusting Consistency
Just like my other buttercream recipes, you can easily adjust the consistency of this marshmallow cream frosting.
Wait until you have beaten the ingredients together as instructed. If you feel that your frosting seems too runny and you would like to thicken this, simply add in a little more sifted powdered sugar. Do this a couple of tablespoons at a time, as you don't want to over thicken it. Beat in to incorporate and test. You can repeat this until you reach your desired thickeness.
Similarly, if your frosting is too stiff for your decorating purposes (which may be the case on a cold day or if you want to pipe with a particularly thin nozzle), add a bit of milk to the mixture. Again do this slowly, adding a tablespoon to start. Beat in the milk and test for consistency. Avoid over adding liquid as this can make the frosting too thin very quickly.
FAQs
So the answer to this is both yes and no at the same time. You can most certainly make frosting with marshmallow fluff. In fact, this recipe is for a quick and easy marshmallow fluff buttercream. I would not, however, recommend using plain fluff as a frosting for a cake. This is because fluff (or marshmallow cream) on its own is not very stable - it will melt down and spread.
This marshmallow cream frosting is a light buttercream with added sticky sweetness of marshmallow fluff and vanilla. It is perfect for a fun cake frosting or making cookie sandwiches, like oatmeal cream pies.
As with other buttercream frostings, this marshmallow cream icing is best kept in the refrigerator.
If you are making the icing in advance to decorate the cake, you can keep this in the refrigerator for up to three days before using (allow it to come back to room temperature and give it a good stir to smooth).
Once a cake is decorated with marshmallow buttercream, keep chilled in the fridge until nearer the time of serving. For best flavour, the frosting should be near room temperature (so leave out for about 15-30 minutes before serving). If it is a particularly hot day, the timings here may vary.
Looking for more fun frosting recipes? Try one of these:
- Easy Cream Cheese Frosting with Spreadable Cream Cheese
- Pistachio Buttercream
- Dulce de Leche Buttercream
- Cinnamon Buttercream
- Classic Vanilla Buttercream
Marshmallow Fluff Frosting
Equipment
- electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Alternatively, use a large mixing bowl and hand held electric beater.
- Sieve
- spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 7.5 oz marshmallow fluff or marshmallow cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar or icing sugar
Instructions
- Begin by placing the softened butter and marshmallow fluff in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixing fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat together on low for about 2 minutes until light, creamed and well incorporated.
- Sift half of your powdered sugar into the bowl and beat until just combined.
- Finally, sift the remaining powdered sugar into the bowl and add the vanilla. Continue beating on a low setting until creamy and smooth (see note).
Carolyn Ellertson
colors will blend more uniformly if you stir up a bit of the food color with a little bit of frosting first, and then incorporate the bigger portion gradually and evenly. Especially with paste colors.. of which put some on the end of a toothpick and put in the frosting and work outwards.
Liz Mincin
Hi Carolyn - yes, absolutely! Thanks for sharing this helpful tip. Definitely good for getting a more even spread, especially in a large batch of frosting 🙂
Kim Valencia
Can i put food coloring here?
Liz Mincin
Absolutely! I love adding a bit of color to my icings and this one is no different. If using liquid food color, be sure to add slowly - excess liquid can impact the overall consistency and you may find you need to adjust by adding a bit more powdered sugar. If you're wanting a stronger shade or a deeper color, I'd usually recommend using gel food colors 🙂