Today I received the FABULOUS book, The Essential Cake Decorating Guide. Wow! - Best book I've received yet! The book seems to be British, which leaves me w/ a question: they mention modelling paste, flower paste, and sugar paste. Now, flower paste = gum paste, right? And sugar paste = fondant, I think. So, what is modelling paste? It's not modelling chcolate, as they mention that as a separate medium.

I just took a class with Stephen Benison (a Brit) and he made that distinction, too.

I used what I prefer and I can't say that it made any difference in the end product, honestly. As he described it, modeling paste is basically fondant with tylose (cmc) added to it.

We also used Mexican paste for some flat, hard items and it worked very well.

HTH
Rae