Hi all,

I currently use fondant mixed with some tylose powder to make my flowers and it works well enough. But it does become to brittle for the more delicate flowers.
Can anybody tell me what the difference with flower paste/ gum paste is? It's pretty expensive in comparison so I don't want to fork over the money if it's essentially the same as what I use now.

Thanks in advance
Michelle

I heard from a sugar flower instructor that flowers made with gumpaste can last forever and don't absorb moisture. Fondant absorbs moisture (such as humidity) much easier and can cause flowers to sag and loose shape.

Are you using a ready made fondant mixed with tylose? Most fondant recipies have slightly different ingredients than gumpaste, and definitely different proportions. I find you can roll true gumpaste a lot thinner than fondant mixed with tylose. I personally prefer gumpaste made with gum tragacanth, but the platinum paste it really nice also. I do find because of the delicacy of all flowers, they are all somewhat brittle. But since my fondant has glucose in it, it is meant to remain softer as a cake covering should, adding tylose doesn't remove the glucose that is already in the fondant. Since you have tylose, why don't you make a tylose gumpaste, it's just egg white, tylose and powdered sugar and works very well!

On a last note, I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but a lot of decorators say, fondant mixed with tylose makes it into gumpaste. This isn't true, it makes more of a modeling paste or as Nicholas Lodge puts it, 'a modified fondant'. It sure is nice in a pinch but I don't substitute tylose fondant for my gumpaste flowers.

Well, I surely don't mind ruffling feathers.

Sugarpaste/rolled fondant together with Tylo/CMC is NOT the same thing as flowerpaste/gumpaste. It's a modeling paste and adequate for applications where one needs modeling paste.

Hi, i truly rather use already made gumpaste.There are many different name brands, etc. I love to make Nick Lodge's recipe , that to use the fondant with little tylose added. hth

Thanks for the replies, I'm definitely going to look into getting some gumpaste to see if it improves my flower making. I might try making my own when I have a bit of spare time too