I have yet to work with gumpaste, just started with mmf. This may seem like a dumb question but gumpaste is just a medium for creating accents right? From what I understand you are not supposed to eat it? Why use gumpaste and not fondant?

It is made of edible ingredients but it dries hard as a rock and only tastes very sweet, not a pleasing flavor. I wouldn't suggest eating it, but it isn't going to make anyone ill if they do. If you have ever eaten Necco candy wafers or Altoid mints, they are made of the same thing, just flavored and in the Necco's candy they are colored as well.

Well, after my own little experimentations with my coworkers, I have discovered that *most* people consider them edible unless you say otherwise. I now leave a note with my cakes in the breakroom suggesting they pick out the flowers before eating the cake because they have wires in them (to attach to cake - something I don't like doing) and aren't really yummy. My boss completely ignored my advise and said "eh, looks edible to me" until he chomped down on a wire. I think I will find another way to attach them to the cakes for this simple reason. People DO eat them, even if you or I wouldn't.

As in can you eat it and not die? Yes. The lady who asked if the roses from my cake were edible grabbed one, bit into it and is still alive today!

Depending on the cake and occasion, I make flowers on gum drop centers with thick dry spaghetti stems--fully edible. I then arrange them directly on the cake.

On the attached cake pic, the roses were made this way and the sunflowers had rice krispie treat centers.

Rae

I was wondering the same thing. I like to make everything edible if possible. Can you flavor gumpaste? Right now I am trying to make deck chairs out of gumpaste for a cruise ship cake.