I am looking to get some practice using fondants and am looking for some advice. Does marshmallow fondant harden like the store-bought stuff? Is there a way to make a hardening fondant without the expense of the store-bought stuff? What is the difference between gumpaste and fondant?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Gumpaste dried rock hard. The realistic looking flowers are generally made from gumpaste.... not real tasty... NEVER cover a cake with it.

Fondant is used to cover a cake, make side decorations..ect.

I only use white chocolate fondant...LOVE it! There can be a very big difference in fondants...very big.

If you need help, I'm happy to try and answer any questions you might have. I teach classes so I've been around the block on this stuff


Jen

oooooo youre lucky! For your first post you got JenniferMI to answer your question

When I want to make "gumpaste" I just take some tylose powder and add some to the fondant. This works nicely for me when I want to color some fondant and then also use the same color for gumpaste. For example I the cake in my avatar, I used the red fondant for the stripes, dots etc. and then I mixed some tylose into some of it to make the strawberries and the bows.

The best way to practice is to start to learn to make your own fondant. The price comparison to the stores is crazy as it really is relatively inexpensive to make. Try and by a stryrofoam dummy cake and you can cover it and decorate it as you want. If you like it, you can keep it for a display cake or you can just keep reusing the dummy to practice your fondant work. Have fun with it, once you learn what works and doesn't it seems to be endless.

Gumpaste is really better for decorations and bows as it can be rolled really thin. You can also mix half fondant/gumpaste for decorations also....doing this gives you more time to work with it as gumpaste dries quickly.