Click here to see how my first experiment on marshmallow frosting turned out. As I have said on my post, the output was not runny but it didn’t hold either. My fellow homebakers gave me several recipes but it was Kate’s recipe that I liked best, simple and very easy to make.

Marshmallow Frosting Recipe 

• 4 eggwhites 
• 2 cups granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup water 
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar 

make sure your syrup is cooked to the right consistency. i use thread test all the time. Beat eggwhites until fine na wala nang bubbles then start adding your syrup in thin streams. pag naubos na syrup beat til it holds shape. pag hand mixer it takes me 15 minutes to get the consistency i want. hope this helps.

Before I added the syrup

After 15 minutes of beating the marshmallow frosting was done!

I am already loving this inexpensive and not-so-sweet frosting alternative. Next time I’ll try making IMBC or Italian meringue buttercream.

If I remember it right, marshmallow frosting is usually called “grandma’s frosting” because it reminds one so much about childhood and the usual cakes provided by grandma. Clients would oftentimes request for this type of frosting since “it’s not too sweet” compared to my favorite American buttercream but…but…I am so afraid to make it as it involves boiling and noting the right temperature. Celsius and Fahrenheit? nah-uh…so not cool.

But this morning I said that I’ll give it my best shot. So I gathered the ingredients and the equipment needed to cook the marshmallow frosting. Recipe adapted from Baked Bree.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a saucepan combine the sugar and water with a pinch of cream of tartar.
2. Make sure that when you are cooking the sugar that you do not stir the sugar mixture. It will cause the sugar to crystallize and you don’t want that to happen.
3. Boil the sugar until it reaches 245 degrees.
4. Meanwhile, put the egg whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat until the egg whites are peaked.
5. Slowly pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites. I mean slowly, this sugar mixture is 245 degrees, you do not want it to splash.
6. Beat the frosting on high speed for about 7 minutes (hence the name seven minute frosting) or until the sides of the bowl cool down.
7. The frosting will be light and fluffy.
8. Add the vanilla extract.

Using all these, I came up with a not-so-runny-but-it-doesn’t-hold-either type of marshmallow frosting:

Nevertheless, IT WAS SO YUMMY. So what happened? Here are some “what went wrong?” points that I will consider on my second try:

1. The syrup didn’t reach the right temperature yet. – guilty! I was so excited that when it began crystallizing on the sides, I poured it immediately on the meringue. BAD MOVE. “Patience is a virtue” applies to marshmallow frosting making.
• Make the syrup in slow flame. Don’t be in the hurry, your patience will be rewarded, promise.
2. Didn’t follow the 7-minute whipping rule for Kitchen Aid mixers or 10-15-minute for the handheld – again I was so excited and was even licking the frosting-dipped spoon on the table. Damn, it was good.
• So there, my fellow bakers advised me to whip it until I reach the right consistency.