Can anyone help me with making a purse shaped cake? What medium do I use? fondant, gum paste, or what? Thanks for any help.

I would definlety use fondant to cover the entire cake and them gumpaste for handles etc...It really is quite easy.

Lots on youtube

U definitely cover with fondant. Other than that it is really hard to help u because u didn't say what shaped etc. There are plenty on youtube for a cute basic shape. You can also buy a video for making one from SugarEd. Sharon Zambito shows how to do one step by step...

Thank you so much for the input. Do you have a really good fondant recipe? I have tried several but none are really great.

If you want your purse cake to look realistic, use fondant... don't bother using buttercream on the outside, it will not look like a real purse and the finish would look very sloppy..

these purses I have made covered in fondant:

This may help: http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/Blog/2011/05/28/creating-handbags-made-from-cake/
We call them handbags over here in the UK.

Those are great! Thanks so much.

Folks I just wanted to ask a question. Love all the links for this subject. I have to make a purse for this weekend coming but it is one of those round shaped ones with the bottom cut. But I am a bit concerned about how the cake is going to stay upright when the base is smaller than the top. I would think that it would fall down because of gravity? Any ideas on how to make sure that the cake doesn't fall over?

Cheers