Marshmallow is super fun to make. Marshmallow is made the same way as Italian meringue – adding hot sugar syrup to stiff egg whites, but with the addition of gelatin to make them set.
We suggest making this with friends, as the mixture will set quite quickly, you will need a few hands-on decks to pipe the ropes before it sets.
It’s good ole messy fun, perfect for a chilling Sunday!
For the marshmallow dusting; to stop everything sticking:
Make sure your workspace is ready with the ingredients.
Mix the icing sugar and corn flour in a large bowl. Place a very long sheet of parchment paper on your work surface. Using a sieve, generously dust all over the parchment paper with the mixture. Reserve some of it for later.
For the marshmallow mixture:
Make sure the bowl of the stand mixer if squeaky clean, there should be no residue. To clean it, rub lemon/white vinegar all over the bowl and wipe with a kitchen towel/tissue.
Put the egg whites, salt and 1 tbsp of caster sugar into the bowl, fitted with the whisk attachment. Don’t turn it on yet.
Put the gelatin sheets in a shallow bowl of cold water and leave for 5 minutes to soak and become soft.
Put the liquid glucose and the 150ml of water in a heavy based saucepan with the remaining caster sugar. Place over a medium heat and stir with a heatproof spatula (marise) to gently dissolve the sugar. It will take 5-10 minutes. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Attach a sugar thermometer to the pan and continue to boil without stirring until the syrup reaches 120C. Remove the pan off the heat.
Turn the mixer on now to a medium speed and whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Take the soaked gelatin leaves out of the bowl and squeeze the excess water out. Blot them with a clean tea towel. Add to the hot syrup mixture and stir until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
Once the egg whites are at stiff peaks, crank up the machine to a high speed, add the hot syrup mixture in a steady stream. Be very careful, add the syrup directly to the egg whites without it touching the side of the bowl of the whisk on the way down, otherwise it will cool before it hits the eggs.
When all the syrup has been added, continue to whisk on a high speed for 5 minutes.
The mixture will cool, and the bowl will come to room temperature. The mixture should be glossy and doubled in volume.
To colour:
This is a bit of a two-person job, quickly divide the mixture between three bowls. To one bowl, add the pink colouring, to the next; add the blue and the final bowl, add the yellow. Stir quickly to evenly combine the colours and transfer to three disposable piping bags.
Snip the end off the piping bag about 1.5cm. Quickly pipe long straight ropes of marshmallow onto the dusted parchment paper. Leave to set for 5 minutes, then lightly dust with a little more of the icing sugar and corn flour mixture. Leave the ropes to set until they are no longer sticky to the touch, and easy to handle without breaking apart. This will take approximately one hour. Don’t leave them for too long though, or they will set, becoming hard to twist and may crack.
To twist:
First, dust your hands with some of the remaining icing sugar and corn flour mixture. Now roll one rope of each colour back and forth in the mixture so that they are completely coated. Lay the three colours of rope side by side and skewer all three with a toothpick at one end. Carefully twist (or plait) the ropes tightly, skewer the other end with another toothpick to hold the twists in shape.
Repeat with all the ropes. And PHEW!
They can be eaten immediately, but they won’t hold their twisty shape unless you let them set at room temperature for 24hours. They need to be completely dry!
The next day: remove the toothpicks and the twists will miraculously stay in their lovely shape.
The ropes will keep fresh for one week in an airtight container
