There are a lot of different brands of flowerpaste available to us cake decorators these days, and in
our experience they all differ slightly. Some are stickier than others, some dry harder and some are quite expensive!
We believe you can save yourself a lot of money by making your own flowerpaste!
Flowerpaste (or gum paste as it is known in America) is what cake decorators use to make a wide range of edible creations for cakes. It is most commonly used for making sugar flowers due to it's ability to be rolled out so thin you can just about see through it, and still work with it!.
You can mix it 50/50 with sugarpaste (USA: fondant) and it produces a nice result that hardens a little better than sugarpaste alone, this works well for making models and characters!
The original recipe comes from the internet, where we have seen it in different variations. We have adapted it a little to our own preferences after several trials! As it was given using American cups - We use measuring cups instead of scales for this one, which we think is easier when dealing with icing sugar!
INGREDIENTS:
2 egg whites (We use Dr Oetker powder egg whites so they are pasteurised. NOTE: Raw eggs could be dangerous!)
3-4 cups sifted icing sugar (confectioners)
3 level teaspoons Tylo powder (or CMC or GumTex)
2 teaspoons of trex
We find this gives a softer, smoother paste.
To make flowerpaste we use a Kitchen Aid mixer which works best with the metal beater paddle, we have tried it with a hand mixer - it broke it...
PROCEDURE:
In a mixing bowl, place the reconstituted egg albumen.
Slowly add the icing sugar and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
Quickly sprinkle the Tylose powder on the egg white-powdered sugar mixture, and beat on medium speed until you achieve a thick consistency. It should be firmish to squeeze and a little sticky, but if you have trex on your hands it shouldn't stick.
Transfer mixture onto a trex (crisco) greased counter top and knead.
Slowly add a little icing sugar until you achieve a soft but not sticky consistency.
It is now ready to use, but it is recommended you leave it overnight to set
Keep it in a tightly sealed bag, or airtight container to prevent it from drying out and hardening unnecessarily.
Some people say keep it refrigerated, but we find room temperature (cool room!) is best. NOTE: We cannot be held responsible for how long it keeps for as it is hard to tell when something like this is 'off', but we have kept and used ours for up to 6 weeks and it's fine (although it might need a bit of kneading!).
You can colour it with any paste colours:)
