Gum Paste Cake Decorating Tips

There are many ways you can decorate a cake; however, a very popular method is using gum paste to mold different decorations such as animals, cartoon figures, and flowers that look very real, no matter what color they are. It isn’t particularly tasty, but is used more for the decorations that can be created with it, rather like edible modeling clay. Besides giving a cake some beauty, there are two more reasons professionals often use this popular ingredient:

1. It allows the professional to display the cake for long periods of time.
2. The decorations can be saved to serve as a memento of the event.

If you’re ready to get baking and want to create some real-looking flowers, there are four cake decorating tips you need to know when working with gum paste.

Tip 1 – Making Gum Paste or Purchasing

What makes up this popular decoration? It is actually composed of confectioner’s sugar, corn syrup, gum tragacanth and water. While you can make your own, most people tend to buy it already made from baking or craft supply stores. The more serious baking enthusiasts and professionals may choose to make their own, but this is simply a personal choice.

If you’re starting out at designing flowers, consider buying gum paste flowers already made for you. You can either use them as a reference for your own or use them directly on your cake design.

It’s important to understand that working with gum paste takes a bit of finesse; beginners have to practice if they want to get good at it. They also need to have an eye for the finer details in decorations. If you want to make flowers out of this medium, here are some popular cake designs that you can use:

• Roses
• Daisies
• Orchids
• Carnations
• Calla Lilies

Plan ahead as there are many details that go into creating these flowers. After all, you have to cut each petal and attach them. Then you need to shape and curve those petals to look natural. Finally, you affix the stems, stamens and leaves.

These artificial flowers are like the real thing as they are delicate to the touch; however unlike real flowers they will keep for a long time.

Gum paste is wonderful to use on cakes designed specially for children. After all, you can create different kinds of animals, cartoon characters, superheroes and more. You don’t have to limit it to children’s cakes; you can also use them for adult oriented ones as well.

If you want to work with gum paste, there are a few tools you’re going to need, including the following:

• Cutters – for cutting out the designs.
• Shaping tools – including umbrella, shell, veining, ball and dog bone tools.
• Small brushes – for applying petal dust or adhesives.
• Modeling sticks – adding ruffles to the petals and leaves.
• Foam cutting surface
• Heavy-gauge wire

You can either purchase these tools individually or in a cake decorating tool kit. However, do not purchase the kit until you know for sure what kinds of projects you plan to do and create; from there, you can get a better idea of which tools you’ll be using more often.

Here are some beginners tips:

• Cover the gum paste up tightly when you are not using it. You don’t want it to have dried out when you come to use it again.
• To tint your paste, apply small bits of color gel using a toothpick. Be sure to knead it and apply more color slowly to get the tint you’re looking for.
• After the flowers have dried out, sprinkle petal dust so that they look realistic.
• Pasteurized egg whites can act as an adhesive for the decorations.

Finding More Gum Paste Cake Decorating Tips

Are you really serious about working with gum paste? If so, then consider joining a cake decorating course or look for cake decorating books to help you get started and be inspired.

Keep in mind that instructional training by a teacher is better than following written instructions you find through a book or on the Internet plus you learn about others’ ideas as well. The keyword for baking and decorating is practice; after all, practice makes perfect.

Image source: Flickr users 'carabou', 'dragonflycake' and 'bakingproject'