I have to make 100 gum paste 6" maple leaves for a project. I rolled out one nice and thin and let it dry one week and it is so nice and rubbery, but I need it harden! I used Bakels prepacked gum paste. Can I add Wilton Gum Tex to it to harden? I need to find something, I have 15 packages of it. (I did make some homemade gum paste using some stuff that I picked up at the ICES convention and that works super good and dries REALLY hard, but that is for my personal use, the leaves I need to make and the all the Bakels gum paste belong to the bakery where I work.)

By the way, I live in Florida's gulf coast and it is raining every day for hours . Thanks a bunch.

You know I had some Bakels and used it in the spring and my stuff was like rubber too and it never did harden. I have a buttercup that is 4 months old and is still like rubber so I don't think it's the rain.
I wish I could help . I just used some satin gumpaste I had and forgot about the other.
Tylose would help I would think but it was odd being so rubbery .I thought it was just a bad batch from the company being I had never used it before.

I never use Bakels. But I would add some tylose.
Edna

I wish i could help you out but i too have used bakels in the past and had the same thing happen. It was wicked expensive and never did harden. I too would try and cut things out weeks in advance and still three weeks later it was still rubbery. I tried it two different times and i will never buy it again for that reason. I ended up going out and buying some wilton gumpaste mix powder but have yet to have an opportunity to use it. I also have a recipe that someone shared but have yet to try it. I really don't use gumpaste that often. I kept saying to myself...how in the world can i sell my cakes with gumpaste items on it if it takes forever and a day to dry. It just wouldn't be practical.
Never again Bakels..perhaps you can try adding some gumtrag to it and see if it hardens.

I'm reading this after the fact. I bought the Bakels because a local supplier sells it for less than $4 when the Wilton costs close to $10. I had never used gum paste and bought the Bakels because it was inexpensive so I thought it would be good for practice. I used it to make my gerbera daisies on my last cake and it never did harden - just stayed rubbery as described. However, I used the Wilton gumpaste to make the flower centers and they were hard before I attached them to the flowers!

I'm a penny pincher, but I'll use the Wilton until I get the chance to try making my own. I guess I'll use the remaining Bakels gumpaste for things that will lay flat on my cake.

I hate to say that i have never ever had the bakels dry for me.

Any idea why a company would manufacture a product whose very purpose is to dry hard and rigid, yet their product doesn't? How is it that their product continues to sell? Is there some secret to using it that we're not aware of? Are all their sales to unsuspected people like us who buy it once, but never again?

I hate to sound stupid or sarcastic, but I don't get it.

Well, instead of whining, I decided I should inquire directly with the company at americanbakels.com, so I just did. I'll let you know what their response is, if I receive one.

While I haven't tried the wilton gumpaste yet..I did start adding tylose to my fondant and viola...gumpaste! Its easy to find ready made fondant around here and i can mix it as i need it. Once the tylose is added it hardens just like gumpaste will. Got the tip from CC...love it!

Well, then, I'll have to try it since I get the Bakels gum paste for $3.65/lb compared to Wilton's at $10.00/lb.

Do you have a suggestion as to how much tylose one should add to a pound of this gumpaste to get it to harden properly?

In my honest opinion, if you have tylose why dont you just make gumpaste with it. Nicholas lodge is based on tylose and is a better quality and not expensive either.
Edna

I'm with Edna! My Bakels never hardened. It took a lot of CMC to make it even begin to hold its shape. I'd much rather have Nic's recipe from scratch than waste good ingredients (that I can't get locally) trying to doctor an inferior product.

Here's the response I got from Bakels:

Dear Kim
The addition of a small quantity of Gum Tragacanth will
aid the drying process . However this should not be necessary
with the Gum Paste.
Could you please advise the batch number you have so we can check
further.


The response I sent them:

Unfortunately, I used the entire package so I cannot provide you with that information. However, a quick search on CakeCentral.com resulted in several users commenting that they had the same problem. Some suggested adding tylose powder to assist the drying. My Wilton instructor also used it some time back and experienced the same problem.

Could you perform a test with some of your product? I rolled it 1/8" thick and cut flowers out of it. They never would dry. I also used some of Wilton's (overpriced) ready to use gumpaste for the flower centers and it started to dry before I got all of the flowers assembled. Everything I have read has led me to believe that gumpaste dries rather quickly and becomes hard enough to be kept permanently.

I would very much like to use your product. Please let me know if I can do more to assist you in resolving this issue.

I use only Satin Ice fondant and gumpaste. I have found it to be more cost effective (if purchased from the right place) and the highest quality.
I buy it from www.intotheoven.com

I was only wanting to use the Bakels because it was ready to use and had a great price, but I'm definitely open to trying other things. Having worked 17+ years for a company that puts customer satisfaction first, I was compelled to let them know about the quality issue with their product.

But, having said that, I'll definitely try the Satin Ice. My supplier carries Satin Ice products, so I'll ask them what their price would be for the gumpaste and let them know of the issues with the Bakels. They are a food service company, but just started carrying cake supplies so I don't know how familiar they are with the products they are selling.

I work full time so I don't bake on a regular basis. If I make Nick Lodge's gumpaste can it be stored for prolonged periods of time? (I'm sure that question has been answered in another thread, but I thought I'd ask since we're on the subject). Thanks again everyone for your patience and willingness to assist an underling.

Kim

I tried the Bakels gumpaste in April '06 and spent over an hour cutting all my shapes out only to discover a few days later that it was still as pliable as when I first cut my shapes out. I was pretty disgusted. I ended up using candy melts to form my shapes as I was on a time crunch. I just thought I had a bad batch or it was the humidity, guess it's just bad product.

Nic's recipe can be stored in the fridge for up to six months. It can be combined with fondant for flowers and drapes and other things if you have leftover.
Edna