I bought some Gum-Tex yesterday to make my fondant bows. Is the fondant edible once the Gum-Tex has been added to it?
Has anyone ever made the Gum Paste recipe off of the Gum-Tex can?
Thanks,
darkchocolate
The gum-tex is edible, but your right darkchocolate, no one eats it.
When you mix it with fondant, it makes your fondant harder, but not rock hard. I think 1/2 fondant / 1/2 gumpaste tastes like Necco wafers! 
sue_dye, Do you use Wilton Glucose or do you just use corn syrup (I read where you can do that)?
lukasross, Do you think the half fondant/half Gum Paste will be harder than just adding some Gum-tex to fondant?
Thank you both for replying.
darkchocolate
maybe I didn't add enough gum-tex or whatever, but when I did my final cake for the Wilton 3 class, you had to make like 50 roses out of a fondant/gumpaste mixture. I ate one and it didn't dry rock-hard. It was drying for about a week, but it wasn't disgusting or anything.
What do you all do w/ gumpaste decorations if you do not eat them? Do you just throw them out? That seems so sad to spend a long time decorating and then throw it out....... And is there a difference between adding gumtex or whatever to fondant and just straight gumtex?
Some people keep the items. One friend of mine has the booties I made her under glass in her china cabinet.
I make only gum paste they hold up in the Florida heat. I once made some fondant roses, went a way for the weekend the air went out in the house and they looked like melted candles when I got home. So to keep it safe I only use gum paste.
The gum-tex is edible, but your right darkchocolate, no one eats it.
When you mix it with fondant, it makes your fondant harder, but not rock hard. I think 1/2 fondant / 1/2 gumpaste tastes like Necco wafers!
I will have to remeber that , my DH loves neccos. Thanks for the discription.
So if you make gumpaste decorations, people have to remove all of them before they eat the cake? What if you put them on buttercream? Or even on fondant - how would you attach them w/out using buttercream? Doesn't that get on them?
Do you have to put anything on them to keep them from "spoiling" since they are a food product? (if you keep it as a memento - not on the cake)
I bought some Gum-Tex yesterday to make my fondant bows. Is the fondant edible once the Gum-Tex has been added to it?
Yes, Gum-tex is edible. Gum-tex, gum trag or tylose (all the same idea) are the ingredients in gumpaste that makes it gumpaste. They are the hardening agent.
By adding gum-tex to your fondant you are going to end up with a product that dries faster and harder than just plain fondant. Same goes when you add in gumpaste to your fondant. Both give you a cross between the two that give you more working time than just gumpaste and faster/harder drying than just fondant.
And is there a difference between adding gumtex or whatever to fondant and just straight gumtex?
I'm going to guess you meant straight gumpaste instead of straight gumtex here. Adding a small amount of gum-tex to fondant will give you a cross between gumpaste and fondant. I'm not sure if there is a point where you can then call the fondant gumpaste. I usually just refer to it as fondant with gum tex. Straight gumpaste will dry faster and harder than fondant alone and fondant with gum tex (unless you add a large amount? to it).
In Course 3 we used Fondant with gum tex because it gives you more working time before the fondant dries. Since you are learning what you are doing it is a little more forgiving to slower movements. If you have made many roses you will usually fell more comfortable with your motions by the end of them and will usually be able to work faster. Once you feel comfortable with making the rose and are faster at doing it you can do it using gumpaste. If you are not as sure with your moitions or work slower then the gumpaste could dry before you get a chance to finish what you are doing.
If you have never made a bow it might be helpful to make it with fondant plus gum tex or gumpaste a few times to get the motions down and until you feel more comfortable with it. With gumpaste you have to work faster or it will crack when you are bending your bow loops because it dries so fast.
So if you make gumpaste decorations, people have to remove all of them before they eat the cake? What if you put them on buttercream? Or even on fondant - how would you attach them w/out using buttercream? Doesn't that get on them?
If you make decorations that have wires in them, such as the gumpaste floral sprays, then yes you want to remove those before serving the cake. Same goes if you make a cake with royal icing petunia or easter lilies that have the wire stamens. As far as single roses, I can see either serving them or removing them, but I don't see alot of people, other than kids maybe, eating them.
If you use buttercream to attach them to a buttercream cake then I wouldn't try to keep them and just throw them out. The moisture in the buttercream will start to melt the fondant. If you are attaching them to a fondant cake you can use royal, or I have read, vanilla. Again, I probably wouldn't try to save single flowers, I wouldn't reuse them on another cake.
Now lets say you made a floral spray with wires you could make a fondant or gumpaste plaque to go under it or arrange them in a way where they are not actually touching the cake that much (if iced in buttercream) and probably be able to save them with no problem. A fondant covered cake shouldn't hurt gumpaste flowers.
If I was going to the trouble of making a scene using gumpaste figures I would go ahead and make a base to it, using covered cake board or a gumpaste plaque so that they can be saved for later.
Do you have to put anything on them to keep them from "spoiling" since they are a food product? (if you keep it as a memento - not on the cake)
I have some pieces I made from fondant with gum tex (the scarecrow and turkeys in my photos) that I still have and I did not do anything to them. They will dry solid.
You want to save pieces in a cool, dry enviroment as moisture will cause your fondant to wilt or melt. I have also heard of people spraying the pieces with a clear coat of paint (after it was removed from the cake) to help preserve them.
TexasSugar,
I can't say thank you enough for such a detailed explanation. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions with so much detail.
I also bought my Wilton Fondant today so now I am ready to make my loop bow even though I don't have an occasion for it. I didn't buy the fondant yesterday when I bought the Gum-Tex because it is $2 cheaper at my local Wal-Mart.
I sure wish I could take a class under you. I am about 1 hour away from the nearest class but I would love to take a class.
darkchocolate
DarkChocolate, I'm glad I could help. 
I made my first bow (ended up with two of them because I had some many loops) when I had no reason to make one. The good thing about them is that they should last for a while as long as you keep them cool and dry. I put mine in a cake box so it wasn't completely closed off to air.
Plus I think it takes a few to figure out how things works best for you. The ones I make now look alot better than when I started.
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