Right, I am a non professional cake maker. I only make cakes for friends and family and have dabbled in making fondant figures over the years but now I have been asked to make a cake with quite intricate figures so am wondering if I should invest in Gum Paste this time?

I am going to make a two layer cake. 10" and 6" and sit the figures on the top.
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxwb3pwlXp1r4ymo2o1_500.png

What I need to know is roughly how much gum paste to buy and a good place to get it from to get it as cheap as possible.

I also understand I can make the figures in advance. (Happy if this is the case, as it will alleviate my stress!)

PLEASE respond with words of wisdom!

Many thanks
Tami
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IMO you should definitely go with a 50/50 mix of gumpaste and fondant. The best fondant for figures is Wilton. It holds its shape and dries fairly quickly. You can make them now if you want. Don't store them in an airtight container - just keep the dust off.

You can buy ready-made gumpaste and fondant at Wal Mart, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, etc. That would probably be the easiest and fastest way to go. You could get 1 package of the different primary colors (plus green), 1 of the brown/ivory colors and 1 of the gumpaste. That should be enough, depending on how big your figures turn out to be.

Good Luck and be sure and post pics.

Thanks for your reply. Im in the UK so Walmart is out of the Question!

So can I mix fondant with gum paste to make it go further? That seems like a great idea? How long will the figures last?

Sorry, didn't know where you are. I mix fondant and gumpaste because it doesn't get hard as fast so you have more working time. It will eventually dry rock hard, though. The figures should last forever as long as they're not banged around.

WONDERFUL! Just what I needed to hear! Thank you do much. So a 16oz pack will do?

That should be plenty of gumpaste.

Fab! Thank you SOOOO Much!
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