I was wondering what the difference was between fondant and gum paste. Are they both edible? I see instructions for the same thing but one is with fondant and one is with gum paste. Which one is better? I have made the mmf before and today I bought the wilton gum paste mix. I am so confused. I hope you can help me.

Fondant is a dough like concoction of powdered sugar & Crisco (or fat) much like pie dough is fat & flour. It can be used to cover a cake &/or for decorations.

GumPaste is a substance very, very similar but w/a major ingredient added - a gum that makes it dry fast and give it super stretch. It is usually rolled very, very thin and used to create life-like flowers. It dries super hard but is fragile. To eat it would be like eating egg shells. It is never used to cover a cake just for decorations that need to be hard.

You can turn fondant into gumpaste by adding Tylose a type of gum (it's actually a gum substitute).

Wilton GP Mix is not a great gp. But it will give you an introduction to working w/it.