I found a gum paste recipe on the internet to make by hand because I do not have a stand mixer. (very easy) It calls for p/s, gum-tex,glucose, and water. I substituted the gum-tex with tylose and glucose with corn syrup. I can't find glucose anywhere. Anyway my question is, when you roll out gumpaste does it get hard quick around the edges? I am making a gift box cake and I really like this gum paste, and since this is my first time using a scratch recipe I would like to know if it kinda hardens fast? I am working on the bow now and when I roll out my gum paste and start cutting pieces I just notice they start to firm up rather fast. They are not hard, but get slightly firm. Sorry I am new at this and want to make sure I am not adding to much tylose or something. I actually left a few pieces out last night and they are nice and hard today so I know they would hold up for decorations after they dry. It takes wilton colors well too. I would use the wiltons but the price is high to me if I can make my own...plus I want to make my own anyway.

thanks!!!
Karen

Yes, gumpaste hardens very quickly. You must keep your pieces covered as much as possible during the working process. I normally use plastic wrap over one of those flexible cutting mats and only cut as many pieces as I can work on over a few minutes. As you get more practice, you'll work more quickly and have a larger window in which to work with the gumpaste. You might also consider adding a bit of fondant to your gumpaste to give you a longer working period before it starts to harden. I'd start with 10% fondant and see if that works for you. I have used up to 50% fondant for some pieces, but prefer a stronger mix that won't slump in high heat and humidity conditions. The whole point of gumpaste is its strength and durability, but for the purposes of practicing and getting up to speed, I'd go for the blend. Finally, if you add a bit of Crisco to the gumpaste as you work with it, it will help with the cracking as it dries. Add only enough Crisco to make it work for you.

Sorry I can't give you exact amounts, but every area (and sometimes every kitchen) has its own micro-climate with respect to humidity and that will affect your product differently.

thanks so much for your help! Is it to early to make gum paste decorations 2 weeks ahead of time? Or should I wait until a week before? I have 2 cakes I want to make.

Thanks!!

I've made cake specific decorations up to a month before. As long as you keep them dry and cool and away from sources of dust they'll be fine. We're packing to move and I just got rid of some roses, carnations and sweetpeas that I didn't think would survive the move across country. They'd been stored for at least a year and were as good as when I first made them.

The crown that I made of a 50/50 gumpaste/fondant mix, however, slumped in the humidity a couple of months back and had to be thrown out.

Cakeyouverymuch,
THANKS for the crisco tip! I just rolled my gum paste out, added color and a little crisco and wow! what a difference! It's not drying out as fast and it looks great!!!
NOW...why can't my MMF be just as easy??? LOL

Karen

16 oz mm, 3 Tbs water, up to 2 lbs of sugar. It goes together well, but it's been acting like putty, if I lift it , it just falls and stretches. And when I roll it on the counter no matter what I use it seems to stick! Its driving me up the wall lol.

Your recipe calls for no Crisco at all?

well the first one did, but it was too much, now I just use it to grease my hands and the counter top.

My recipe calls for 1/2 cup of shortening. I normally measure it out in a separate dish and use some to coat the bowl for melting the MMs, the bowl of my KA, the dough hook of my KA, and all my utensils. Then I put the full 2 lbs ps in the KA with about half of the remaining Crisco. I add the melted MMs and let the KA work in as much ps as possible. When the KA won't mix in more ps, I grease the counter and my hands with Crisco and dump the whole thing on the counter and work it till ALL of the ps is mixed in. I add a little Crisco to my hands and the counter when it gets too sticky. By the time I'm done I still have a good TBSP of Crisco left. I roll my fondant into a ball, coat it with Crisco and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and put it in a zip bag overnight.

From the sound of it you don't have enough ps in your fondant. As I say, I always work in the full 2 pounds of ps to the 1 pound of MMs. It takes time and its not easy, but its worth the work.

Thanks so much for your help, I will be trying it again for sure. I don't have a stand mixer yet, so I have to use my good ol' hands. I guess that is why my fondant is so stretchy, not enough p/s.

Thanks again,
Your help has been a blessing.

If you have some on hand that is too stretchy, warm it up in the microwave (be very careful doing this--its a very short trip from just warm to badly burned fingers--I usually just do 10 seconds at a time till its the same temperature it is when I'm making it the first time) and add some powdered suigar to it a bit at a time and see how that works. At the same time work in some Crisco.