Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Paul uses fondant to make teddy bear can it be made in advance and how much advance? And if fondant be substituted with gumpaste then what would be the advantage other than it dries faster..so if I make it with fondant and in advance is it same?

Fondant will dry eventually, perhaps not quite as hard as gumpaste so you could make your models well in advance. Not everyone uses gumpaste, it’s preference as long, as it sets up! The advantage of gumpaste is that because the paste is stiffer, handling is better and of course it dries and hardens more quickly. Fondant for models without some type of strengthener can be a nightmare.

So how much tylose should be added in fondant or what kind of strengthener you are refering to?

I use gum tragacanth, it’s a natural gum. I find it makes stronger models than tylose or CMC powders which are chemically formulated. All of them work in the same way but gumpaste made from gum tragacanth should be rested for 12 – 24 hours before using for best results. If you look here http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/clarke-baxter you’ll see some recipes if you’d like to make your own or how to use the strengtheners with fondant.

Thanks Made It with Love.
I just want to know one more thing adding 1 teaspoon tylose to 250 gms sugarpaste is same as market bought gumpaste?

That is the amount most experienced decorators recommend, although as Paul has mentioned most people just sprinkle it on until they can feel the sugar paste stiffening. Trial and error I feel helps to find what works best. I’ve never really had a lot of success using tylose or CMC powder when making gum paste. I prefer to use gum tragacanth which is a natural substance and makes a stronger paste. I find good commercially produced flower paste better drying and use it when I make larger models, or for flowers which need the paste to be rolled out very thinly. I’ve made several comparison tests with flower pastes and find Squire’s Kitchen suits my purposes the best, it isn’t cheap but worth it to avoid stress when things won’t dry. Renshaw’s have their own paste which I don’t find as fine as the Squire’s, and on a budget level Sainsbury’s supermarket ( if you’re based in the UK) also has their own brand which doesn’t suit me and I’m about to try out some Satin Ice gum paste which comes in lots of different colours.

Thanks a lot…I had used Satin gumpaste to make 50/50 and it worked fine to make pearls and other small details. infact I use Satin Ice fondant and found it good.

Adding 1 teaspoon of tylose to 250gms of fondant actually ruins the fondant to do modelling nicely. I had a disaster by adding this much tylose.

Hi Baker06

You can a knead little more fondant to the paste if it has stiffened up a little too much. A small amount of shortening will also help make it more elastic.