A few days ago, I thought it would be a good idea to make marshmallow pumpkins for Jumpy’s birthday party. It all started really well. I had all my props and ingredients out and got started yesterday night. I got the idea from Sara at Mum turned Mom, who made Lego marshmallows a few months ago and I spotted quite a few other examples of decorating marshmallows as an easy alternative to cake pops.When I was shopping for Jumpy’s party a few days ago, I decided to make some and buy what I needed. I tend to do things at the last minute and I did not read instructions on what to do or what to buy. I thought it would be pretty straightforward.I would normally have used white chocolate and orange food colouring, but I could not get my hands on get dairy free white chocolate so I bought some Wonder Melts for my local craft shop as they were dairy-free.
Here is what I was planning to use:
Marshmallows
Lollipop sticks
Orange wonder melts
Black edible food pen
Treat bags
Ribbon
Egg boxes
It took very little time to coat all the marshmallows and let them set on egg boxes. It took no time at all.
Am I lying about them turning out perfectly? No way! I was chatting to Ceri, who blogs over at Natural Kitchen Adventures just over a week ago, and we were talking about the fact sometimes you find recipes on the Internet and they look incredibly appetising, but when you try them at home, the result is awful, and at times inedible. Do not attempt making spooky marshmallow pumpkins my way; it does not work!
Oh dear. Thanks for the heads up. I saw MumTurnedMom’s post too and thought how easy it looked. The thing is, marshmallows are so yummy, you could just put them on a stick and the kids will be happy! #thetruthabout
Sara did a much better job than I did! I think food spray is the way forward if you can get your hands on it.
Ah Mel! Even when things go wrong for you they still look picture perfect (well, mostly 😉 ) I had the exact same problem with my clown cake pops and the non-drying gel icing which smudged all over the inside of the bags. *sigh* and then I got red melts for my pirate marshmallow pops and they came out looking fine but I agree the melts themselves are incredibly sickly! Having said that, they went down a roaring success with all the children! Thanks so much for linking up to my first ever Truth About linky! It really means a lot to me Xx #thetruthabout
I remember your post, now! I knew Sara’s wasn’t the only one I had read about! xx
Love your honesty here my sweet! Hope Jumpy enjoyed her birthday and I’m sure they tasted just fine xxx
She had a great party and I really enjoyed catching up with friends. x
This post made me smile. I read so many perfect sounding recipes, it’s so reassuring to hear that other people have food disasters too.
Thanks Charlotte! I would never try to make a recipe sound perfect when it simply does not work. I would either improve it, or just admit defeat. Today is the latter!
Love your honesty but I still think they look pretty cool!
Thanks Nomita. That is the power of photography! I find it rather annoying when I decide to try a recipe based on a photo and the end result is not so pretty. Even worse when it tastes disgusting!
Lol! How funny, I made pumpkin pops yesterday too, although with mini doughnuts rather than marshmallows! I tried edible marker on the candy melt coating too, and it doesn’t work so well… the pen just slips and doesn’t really leave a solid mark! So, that was my conclusion in my post too, that I would decorate them differently next time – great minds!! For the marshmallows you definitely need the food spray – then the pens really do work, honestly 🙂 Thanks for the mention though…!?! #thetruthabout
Ha ha, great minds think alike! Where did you get food spray? I want to try now!
I buy a brand called Wilton. Having just done a quick Google at least one online UK store seemed to stock it, although it was of course out of stock! They had another brand called Lustre in stock… It’s brilliant stuff, they use it on cupcakes here quite often, plain cupcake frosting sprayed, gives a really vibrant colour 🙂
I just found Lustre on Amazon. I am now trying to think of what I could do ha ha! Thanks again Sara. x
Mel, tu exagères ! Finalement, ils sont très bien, ils on même terrorific ! J’aime beaucoup l’idée 😉
Merci ma belle! J’ai eu quelques conseils. C’est quelque chose que je referai, mais en suivant les instructions la prochaine fois!
Oh crumbs, I would have made a MUCH worse job of it than this – well done for even attempting it! #thetruthabout
Thanks Michelle. You should have seen the kids’ black mouths after eating them!
Ah I get times like that too when my attempts at following a recipe just don’t turn out like they are supposed too. Hope Jumpy had a lovely birthday x
Well this time it was all my fault. I just looked at the photos, thought they looked good and attempted making them without following any instructions. I will make them again. Sara gave me a few tips!
Oh Mel this did make me giggle, I have loads of disasters but am normally too busy clearing up the awful mess to photograph them to blog about!! My tip for the Candy Melt thingys is to add some vegetable oil or Trex to thin the consistency, it makes them easier to coat and work with. See you in a couple of weeks! xx
I did read about the vegetable oil trick! I think if I coat marshmallows again, I will use coloured white chocolate – it tastes much nicer than the melt thingies and it looks like Jumpy is not allergic to milk protein anymore (she had cream in her pasta tonight!).
They look good . cake pops are so fiddly.
I have far too many recipe fails I’m glad I’m not the only one!
You are not the only one; no doubt about that! I have had more disasters in the kitchen since I started making ‘free from’ goodies than ever before!
They look great! Never tried to make them myself. Thanks for linking up to the #binkylinky
Really? Oh dear, I think they look awful! Luckily I was serving them to close friends so we had a good giggle, especially after their children’s mouths and teeth got covered in the black food colouring!
Oh dear! Well, they were still cute, if not a bid smudged. Good try and lesson learned (for all of us!) #binkylinky
Next time, they will be better and prettier!
Love your honesty in this post – I think the pumpkins are cute regardless of the messy faces, and hopefully they did get eaten, been though you said the icing wasn’t that nice. The pics are great anyway, and it made for interesting reading so a great post! Honesty is always the best policy – right? Thanks for the shout out x
Thanks Ceri. The children did eat them, and none of them complained about the way they tasted. I really think honesty is essential in food blogging, otherwise people trying recipes that simply do not work will stop trusting bloggers. x
Oh no! They look good, though!
She certainly enjoyed hers… and the cake before that!
Very honest! I think we can sometimes give ourselves too high expectations of the outcome in cooking. My adventures in cooking usually look awful but taste ok! #binkylinky
The kids did not complain, bless them!
I think this looks like a great idea…just don’t try to draw on them when they are done would be the lesson here! I would have just put some sprinkles on top or something. In fact I did a similar thing for Pickle’s birthday this year, but not on sticks. They looked like mini cupcakes!
Oh yes, I remember your post, now. They looked so pretty!
What can I say, you’ve made me smile. x
I am glad I took photos of these beauties. Next time I venture into the world of marshmallow heads, I will have something to compare my creations to, hi hi!
You’ve just reassured me that things don’t always work out for you….I was beginning to get worried that you were perfect 😉 They still look fab though and what a great idea!
#Recipeoftheweek
Oh dear, far from perfect! You just tend to blog about the good stuff, don’t you? Can you imagine sharing your most disgusting recipes? Mind you, I’d have a few to share, especially with the ‘free from’ experiments I get up to!
Oh dear sorry they didn’t turn out as you had hoped but it was refreshing to read about a recipe not turning out well x #recipeoftheweek
It is quite comforting, isn’t it, to realise that we all have disasters in the kitchen? x