Marshmallow fluff substitutes

The same product before it was set, taken back to a soft state.

Best for

fudge, rice cereal treats, s'mores dips, hot chocolate, cookie fillings

In anything that gets heated, this is a genuine like-for-like and nobody will be able to tell. Microwave in short bursts, stirring, until smooth. The one meaningful difference shows up in cold uses: melted marshmallows firm up and become tacky as they cool, where fluff stays soft and spreadable indefinitely. So use it while warm, or beat in a teaspoon of corn syrup or glucose, which is roughly what keeps commercial fluff soft in the first place.

Whipping hot sugar syrup into egg whites, which is what fluff is.

Best for

seven-minute frosting, whoopie pie filling, layer cake filling, fluffernutter, topping to torch

Whip the whites to soft peaks, cook the sugar, water and syrup to 115 C or 240 F, then stream it in slowly and whip until thick and glossy. It tastes cleaner and lighter than the jarred version and is the better choice for a frosting, because it holds swirls and torches beautifully. It does not keep: expect a day or two at room temperature, it weeps if refrigerated, and it slowly deflates, so make it the day you need it.

A sweet sticky paste that copies the sugar but not the air.

Best for

sandwich cookie fillings, fluffernutter, cake filling, gluing decorations, dipping sauces

The least-bad option when you have no marshmallows and no eggs. It gives you the sweetness, the stickiness and the pale colour, and none of the aeration, so a filling made with it is dense, chewy and heavy where fluff would be light and cloud-like. Add a pinch of salt, because without the air it tastes much sweeter. It will not work in fudge, where the aerated structure matters.

The egg-free version, using the liquid from a tin of chickpeas.

Best for

vegan frosting, vegan whoopie pies, pie toppings, hot chocolate

Follow the Italian meringue method exactly but with aquafaba in place of the whites. It whips up impressively and looks right, and it is slightly less stable, so it deflates faster and does best used within a couple of hours. A faint beany note is detectable in something plain and much less so once vanilla and a pinch of salt are in. It performs poorly in cooked fudge, where the sugar chemistry matters more than the foam.

A light aerated topping, useful in exactly one situation.

Best for

fruit dip, no-bake pies, trifles, ambrosia and cold salads

In a cold fruit dip or a no-bake pie this works well and tastes fresher and much less sweet than fluff. Be clear about the limits: it is not sticky, it contains fat where fluff contains none, it deflates within a day, and it will not survive being folded into anything warm. A fudge made with whipped cream instead of fluff simply will not set.

The honest route when there is no fluff and no marshmallows in the house.

Best for

chocolate fudge, penuche, peanut butter fudge, no-cook fudge

Fluff in a fudge recipe is doing chemistry, not flavour: the invert sugar and corn syrup in it interfere with crystal formation so the fudge sets smooth rather than grainy. Without it you need another route. Either cook sugar and evaporated milk properly to the soft-ball stage and beat it as it cools, which is how fudge was made before fluff existed, or take the shortcut of melting chocolate into sweetened condensed milk, which sets reliably and needs no thermometer.