I just did a search, but did not find what I was looking for. I was supposed to take the Wilton Gumpaste & Fondant class, but it got cancelled, so I am hoping someone can answer this, or point me to an already existing post on this subject.


Recently, I have learned to make marshmallow fondant (MMF). It was good and I was happy with the results. I will not purchase premade fondant when I can make something similar myself (I don't sell cakes, just make for family.)

What exactly is gumpaste and is it something I can make myself? I assume it is firmer or dries harder than fondant based on what I have read. Some of the cakes I have seen here make flowers/characters from fondant, and others use the gumpaste, for similar looking items. I am getting a bit confused.

I have read that people say gumpaste is not edible. Is that because they don't like the taste/texture, or is there something in it that really is not edible?

Thanks so much for your help!!

I use 50/50 gumpaste and fondant to make flowers and figures. I don't think it's edible because 1. it tastes like poopie and 2. it's so hard and tough when it dries. HTH, I'm waiting to see what te more experienced CCrs say!

You can make gum paste yourself. It basically has gum-tex, glucose and other ingredients. I saw the recipe to make on the back of gum-tex box. It is not edible because it is very hard. THat is what I was told. There are lots of flowers you will make where you mix gum paste to fondant to make it hard and dry faster, so you don't necessarily have to buy gum paste. You can add some gum-tex to your MMF and they can be used.

But flowers like carnation, daisy which were taught in the class were made out of pure gum paste. You can roll it really thin compared to fondant.

Thanks for the reply. I am wondering, why the mix? Is there a reason why all fondant cannot be used? Is it not strong enough?

Thanks again!

Gumpaste is edible (meaning someone could eat it without any bad effects) but not palatable (like someone said above, it tastes like poopie).

If you were trying to do the carnations from the Wilton gumpaste class, I made some with MMF and they came out like the pictures. Daisies work great with MMF too, even big daisies. The flowers on the cake on the box would work with MMF also...I think you would need to dry them in a muffin tin or a mini ball pan, but you'd have to do that with gumpaste too.

Lately I've been experimenting with adding gum-tex powder to MMF. It seems to work fine. I end up with a stiffer texture than I get when I make gumpaste from the recipe on the gum-tex can.

Can I get the gum-tex powder at Joanns or is this something I need to order (if so, from where)? (I am trying to use up some Joanns gift cards I received, so buy from there at the moment, and only when I have a coupon!)

Thanks!

The Joanns here has no cake decorating stuff, but if yours has a real aisle of cake decorating stuff, they'll have it. (if not, Michaels will have it for sure, and so does Hobby Lobby) It's a Wilton product. It's a white can with some green on it. It's about 5 or 6 dollars. It doesn't take very much at one time to stiffen up MMF. If you want to make white flowers, you should get some white icing color to add, because it will turn the MMF an off-white color.

Perfect! I think I know which can you are talking about. Thanks!

I have a few pounds of pre-made gumpaste made by Bakels... which I really don't care for since it doesn't seem to dry hard like it should. Does anyone know if adding this gum-tex that was just mentioned will make it dry hard? I've also heard of adding Tylose... is there a difference and which would work better to make it dry??

Anybody??? Gumtex is available locally for me as opposed to having to order the tylose?

Tylose is whiter, it doesn't make your gumpaste/fondant off white like gum-tex does.

Since gumtex makes the gumpaste off-white, try adding some powdered white food color to correct it. If you look at most ingredient lists for commercial fondant and gumpaste it will usually have titanium dioxide in it. This is white food coloring.

Adding the white food color also gives a good base for making darker colors. I know this sounds crazy, but the titanium dioxide is like a primer and allows for a good base for the darker colors.

If you have warm hands, then a stiffer gumpaste will be easier to use. It also lets you make your flowers thinner. This is good and bad. The good is that they look better, the bad is that they break easily. I also like that gravity isn't quite as hard on the petals and they dry faster.

Good luck with your flowers.

HTH

Michele