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asked June 8th 2015

Parts keep breaking

Please can anyone tell me how to stop all of my cut/shaped pieces from breaking as I lift them after drying… I am using pre-coloured sugar past?

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Please can anyone tell me how to stop all of my cut/shaped pieces from breaking as I lift them after drying… I am using pre-coloured sugar past?

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Hi fredderf

Which sort of paste are you using? If it’s sugarpaste add a little tylose powder to strengthen it. Normally it’s 1 teaspoon to 250 g of sugarpaste which will make gumpaste. If you want to use less you can but it won’t be as strong. f you’re already using coloured gumpaste perhaps you may be rolling it out a little too thin. Either way, roll it out a little thicker and let the pieces dry completely. Give them a good
couple of days for smaller peices, three for larger pieces or however long it takes for them to dry completely . Drying your pieces on sponge rather than on a solid surface will allow the air to circulate right through the paste and ensure thorough drying.
Some smaller pieces break very quickly when lifted with fingers, try and use a palette knife or something similar.

Hope this helps.

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Please accept my apologies, you already said you’re using sugarpaste. I think the paste needs a little tylose powder. Just knead the powder into the paste and let it rest for an hour of so to active the powder. It can be used straight away but gives better results if you allow the resting period. Some brands of darker coloured pastes can be quite wet so allow additional time for them to dry. Unfortunate the dyes can break down the consistensy of the paste, it just needs a little help with the strengthener.
Other similar powders are CMC, Gum Tex, Gum Tragacanth and Gum Arabic.

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Thanks Andy
I did add a small amount of CMC but probable not enough!
This is my first attempt at sugar icing and I am trying to make a Thomas the Tank cake for my grandson. I am working from templates and made shapes both 10mm and 5mm thick but they are nowhere near strong enough! Also they did not hold their shape after cutting out from template so the texture must have been too soft!
I will try again and add more CMC.

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You’re welcome, home the next run will be better.
Oh by the way, I’m not Andy!
Andy used to be the site’s customer support person. He left last year but the mail alerts which come from the site when we post questions and answers still come with his name. I expect now that we have a new site these type of little things will eventually be addressed.

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