I have a cake to do that will need a long beak ( sesame street's big bird). I have shaped it with fondant but 3 days later it is still a little too flexible. I need to have this done in the next 48 hrs. I have a pkg of gumpaste mix I bought a few mos back when I was going to experiment with it but never got around to using it. I think I want to mix it up tonight and try to make another beak if it will dry within a few hours rather than a few days. Any answers?..Also, would a gumpaste figure be lighter in weight than a MMF figure of the same size or about the same weight?
Gumpaste will definitely work better. It could dry in anywhere from a few hours to a day, depending on how thick it is. Either way it's a better bet than fondant for sure.
If you have a gas oven, place it in there to dry (with the oven OFF)...put the light on too if you can. But if you do this be SURE to put a note on the oven dial to prevent you from accidentally turning it on!
I'm not sure about the weight; I think it would generally be the same although I'm guessing that if the gumpaste figure is drier it would technically weigh a bit less just due to the loss of water.
Hiya, do you mean will the finished piece last as long, or will the gumpaste itself last as long?
If you're talking about the "raw" gumpaste, if you wrap it tightly and seal it up like fondant, it will last a good long time. I have only used the prepackaged Wilton stuff, not home-mixed, so I don't know if storage times differs based on recipe.
Not sure if you searched the forums yet for this answer but here is one where people discussed it:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-492813-store.html+gumpaste
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