I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t blog with sprinkles often enough. It always makes me so happy when I do, so I have set about remedying this sad situation! It did help that it was my birthday over the weekend and instead of a traditional cake, I thought I’d experiment with “cake” flavouring (I’ve been reading the Momofuku Milkbar cookbook, can you tell?) and that led me to these sprinkle-ful birthday cake marshmallows.

I’ve been kinda obsessed with the idea since we had cake batter ice cream at Cold Rock a few months ago (with smashed up freckles in it for good measure) and it was amazing. If you didn’t know what the flavour was, it might be hard to pick. It’s definitely vanilla-y but it’s so much more than that. These marshmallows really do taste like vanilla birthday cake. I will say it has been quite a while since I’ve bought a cake mix though!

The last few times I’ve made marshmallows I’ve had some trouble when adding flavourings, as my mixture would deflate when they were beaten in. So my biggest tip would be to carefully fold in your flavourings after the marshmallow mixture has become thick and fluffy, whether the flavour be liquid or powder like this recipe, I’ve personally just had more luck with it this way.

I decided to make 2 layers of marshmallow, a while one with sprinkles (although they all sank to the bottom) and a pink one on top. I’m pretty thrilled with how they turned out and looking forward to experimenting both with more marshmallow flavours (because homemade ones are about a hundred million times better than storebought – no exaggeration) and of course more ways to utilise vanilla cake flavour in other desserts!

Birthday Cake Marshmallows
Adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes
Makes about 30

• 2 x 1 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 2 x 2 teaspoons liquid glucose or light corn syrup
• 2 x 1 tablespoon gelatine powder
• 2 x 1 large egg white
• 2 x 2 tablespoons vanilla cake mix powder
• Few drops pink food colouring
• Sprinkles
• 2 x Vegetable oil, for greasing
• 2 x ½ cup icing sugar, sifted
• ½ cup cornflour (cornstarch), sifted

For this recipe you will need to make two batches of marshmallow mixture, one is white with sprinkles and the other pink. Grease and line the base and sides with baking paper in a 17x27cm slice tin.

Make the white version first. Place caster sugar, glucose (or corn syrup) and 100ml water in a small saucepan. Place on low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Place 100ml cold water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatine powder over it and set aside to soften. Increase heat on saucepan to medium-high and insert a sugar thermometer. Boil until sugar thermometer reaches 120°C (250°F). Remove from the heat and carefully add the gelatine to sugar syrup and whisk until no lumps remain.

Place the egg white in a large mixing bowl and start beating with an electric mixer with a whisk attachment on high speed. Gradually add hot sugar syrup to the egg white while mixing. Beat until mixture is glossy and white, about 5 minutes on a stand mixer and closer to 10 with a hand mixer. Sift the cake mix over and fold in gently, then add sprinkles to the other – as many as you like – and fold in gently.

Pour into prepared tin and place in the fridge. Repeat steps to make second batch, adding a few drops of food colouring instead of the sprinkles. Pour on top of white marshmallow, add extra sprinkles on top if desired, and place back into the fridge overnight. Use a greased knife to cut into squares.

Mix icing sugar and cornstarch together and use to dust each marshmallow. Place on a piece of baking paper to dry for about an hour, then store in an airtight container. Marshmallows are best eaten within two days.