Gumpaste Help

Decorating By mmgiles Updated 26 Apr 2007 , 8:06pm by cake-angel

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mmgiles Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 4:32pm
post #1 of 8

Ok, I've never worked with gumpaste and have very little experience with fondant. None the less, I intend to figure it out just the same. I figured out how to make MMF and it seems to have turned out just fine. I have some reserved. I am needing to make calla lillies and thought gumpaste would be best (after looking for help from you guys on cc). I bought a powdered gumpaste mix (wilton) and made it last night, except something seems very wrong. It said to use one lb of mix and 1/4 cup of water. So the can is 16 oz and last I checked that was a lb. So I mix the whole can and 1/4 cup of water and it said to knead, only this stuff was so sticky it was impossible to knead like bread dough like the directions said. It said to knead, rest, then sift in 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. The only way I could knead it at all was to sift in the 1/3 cup of powdered sugar but it was still somewhat sticky so I put it in a ziploc and let it rest. Then I went back to sift in more powdered sugar so it wouldnt be sticky and I've sifted in over 1 cup now and it's still a bit sticky and it's not very white.

What do I do now? I did all of this last night, so I put it back in the ziploc and then in the can with the lid on. Do I knead some int some MMF or does it need more powdered sugar even though it said 1/3 and i've more than trippled that? I'm so lost.

7 replies
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heyjules Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 4:38pm
post #2 of 8

i had a lot of trouble making my own gumpaste too...when I let it sit in the can it took the shape of the can, it just wasn't stiff enough! i'm used to using the ready made gumpaste and that stuff is hard to knead. so since that was so soft, i wasn't sure if it would work, so i still haven't used it. hopefully someone can help!

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mmgiles Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 4:40pm
post #3 of 8

Thanks for at least trying. I dont know what I'm going to do either.

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msmeg Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 5:14pm
post #4 of 8

I use the wilton mix and have no problem this is what I do

I grease the bowl of my kitchen Aid and put the mix in making sure all lumps are broken up add the 1/4 cup water and mix it says to let rest but I do not always do that for the entire time since I used the kitchen aid I do not need to knead it that was done by the mixer

and then I mix in the 1/3 cup powdered sugar right in the mixer if you do not have a Kitchen Aid you will need to kneed it in by hand

If you needed way more than the 1/3 cu P sugar you had to have put in too much water..... it always works

It will be soft but not sticky I then wrap and let set over night I then knead it again before using as it is slightly hard and not pliable but just alittle kneading makes it very elastic

I have found gunpaste works the best when it is 1 week old or after kneading in some older gumpaste into the fresh.

My solution since it has too much P sugar and too much water already is to buy another can and either start over or mix some of the mix into it.

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heyjules Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 5:21pm
post #5 of 8

thanks for the tip. mine's been sitting in the can in the pantry for a few weeks, and now it's hard enough to use. i probably wouldn't even have checked it. you're awesome.

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mmgiles Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 7:41pm
post #6 of 8

I'm positive that I only used 1/4 of a cup. Normally, when I add wet ingredients to my cake mixes, I'm not very exact, but this time, I actually got eye level with my measuing cup and everything. I'm going to try again tonight and see if it's possible to work with this stuff, even after putting in too much sugar it seems sticky. Maybe you're right though because if it doesnt work tonight, I'll have to buy another can of the gunpaste mix.

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jenbenjr Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 7:54pm
post #7 of 8

I just made some last week and it worked out fine for me....doing everything by hand like you did. I don't know what could have happened to yours because mine was actually a little crumbly until I really kneaded it together. It took a little while to get to a nice constistancy. All I can say is maybe try....try again!

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cake-angel Posted 26 Apr 2007 , 8:06pm
post #8 of 8

I also found mine was way to soft so I added 2 tsp of gumtex and kneaded that in with a little crisco. That really helped it and it worked great after that.

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