I'm New And It Might Be A Stupid Question, But...
Decorating By Val40 Updated 6 Apr 2006 , 3:53pm by Pyxxydust
I occasionally use water for tiny pieces like eyes on modelled figures, but if the fondant you are glueing onto the main cake is heavier, I use royal icing to glue it on.
Some books also mention egg whites as a glue and homemade sugar glues eg. one is made from a piece of fondant and water and mixed into a thin paste.
Hope this helps!
I like piping gel. You can also use vanilla extract or corn syrup.
With the vanilla and water, be sure to use sparingly. Too much can cause your fondant to get gummy or melt.
I was at the ICES meeting thins weekend and Kim Morrison had a water pen - it was so easy to use and not messy like the paint brush. My little girl has Aqua doodle which has a water pen - I may buy another one to try it out, cheaper than the ones I found on the net.
Yes, to all of the above but it has been my experience that you do not want to get excess water on your fondat (especially dark colors) as it works like an acid and will ruin the look of your cake. It left shiny spots on my dark chocolate cake where the water had dried. But then I had water slopped all over the place!
I took a class with Nicholas Lodge a few years ago and he uses something called edible glue. Has anyone heard of it? I had never heard of it until then. You add some Tylose to some boiling water and let it sit for like 24 hours, and voila - you have edible glue! What's so great about it is that it's clear - perfect for adding things like pearls, whereas a dab of royal might smush out around the pearl. Or like a pillow cake I did a few weeks ago - I had a rope border around the middle of the pillow and attached it with royal, but some it smooshed out and you could see it - barely noticable, but I knew it was there. Besides, I hate making royal icing - such a pain to "degrease" everything.
Supposedly it's stronger than royal - although since I just made my first batch - I'll be trying it out for a cake this weekend, and I'll know better how it works. But we used it in his class for three days and it held everything - bows, swags, drapes - I still have that practice cake and nothing has fallen off!
I have to go home (I'm at work now. Shhhh....don't tell my boss!) and check out the recipe. It was something like 1 cup of water that you bring to a boil, then I think you add 2 tsp of Tylose and let it sit...but I'm not exactly sure. It really was just that easy! I'll check it out tonight and post it for you tomorrow.
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