Gum paste cracking and weird textures...?!?!
Please help! I've just started out using gum paste, and have only dabbled in fondant a teeny bit so I'm pretty clueless, but I have watched a billion tutorials at how to make both fondant and gum paste, done lots of reading and so on... But I'm still unsure as to what I'm doing wrong. Basically, I am trying out gum paste figures. I started off with your average sausage leg, cartoony kind of one, he was cute but he began to crack on his knees front and back when he was drying the next day....
It's gotten worse. Now, whilst I am working on a figure it's already cracking at the knees, and random areas here and there!
I have tried the following:
- Store fondant with added cellulose (like tylose). I tried this again with a new batch with less of the gum thinking perhaps I put too much in... Nope. The texture seemed nice When u go to
Use it, but kept cracking.
- A gumpaste recipe that involved egg whites and resting it overnight. It was the one on YouTube by Tonedna1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m--Djm74i8Q&feature=youtube_gda...)
It turned out a very strange texture compared to the premade stuff... Harder to work with As stiffer, cracked like crazy. I'd be making a leg, and it's be cracking whilst I was using it. I used large egg whites so it can't be that...
- to fix the texture I tried a series of things... Adding shortening, adding water, adding more powdered sugar and plenty of kneading, placing in fridge for a few mins etc.
My question is... What is happening???
My thoughts on what it could be are:
1. Cellulose is no good? The jar says to use slightly less than tylose.
2. I'm still using too much of it? As far as I've read you need one teaspoon of tylose to every 500g of fondant. So I've been putting in just a bit less than a teaspoon.
3. We're in Australia and its been cold here (well, to us its cold, 4 degree Celsius nights) anyways we have had the fireplace blazing in the main living area. It's toasty warm in the kitchen... Could that be ruining it?
4. I'm handling the stuff too much?
What are your thoughts?
Do you have a no fail recipe for gumpaste?
Thanks,
Moi!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Penny on
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Another Problem I had with the egg white gumpaste is that it wouldn't even form a smooth ball very well.. Kept leaving lines and grOoves not smoothing into itself Ifr that Makes sense. Just too tough
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Permalink Reply by June Kowalczyk on
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That sounds about right....1 tsp per 500g of fondant. I posted a quick gumpaste recipe on a blog Penny if you want to look it up and try it. I have made flowers with it no problem. Used alone & mixed with fondant 50/50.
The recipe calls for cornstarch, which I believe is cornflower where you are. Can you get your hands on some vegatable shortening? Crisco is a brand here, don't know it AU. Mixing a little on your hands while kneading your gumpaste really helps. You don't need a lot of tylose, too much will make your mixture dry out too fast and crack.
Hope this helps. :o)
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Permalink Reply by Katy Nott on
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Penny - what are you rolling your gumpaste out in? If you are using for example cornflour, be very sparing with it - just a light dusting on your surface will do it. If you use too much I have found it dries the paste out very quickly and makes it really hard to work with. As June says vegetable shortening (trex, white lard etc) rubbed into your hands also helps as it keeps the paste soft while you're working it. I have lots of problems with paste that I have made myself, so I am still experimenting to get the consistency right. What I have found works beautifully, doesn't get too dry too quickly and dries hard is ready made mexican modelling paste and sugar flowerpaste. They have a lovely elastic quality when they have been well kneaded and don't crack easily while your working or afterwards. One warning with this - give it plenty of time to dry really hard before you start trying to move it about too much or it could break on you (says a girl speaking from painful experience). This is, however, a more expensive way of doing it. You might want to try it though so that you get good results while you are still learning as I would hate for you to be put off and think you can't do it, which is what nearly happened to me. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
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Thanks so much ladies!
June- what is your blog address? So I can find the recipe?
Vegetable shortening is (ridiculously) unavailable here. Crisco don't even have stockists here! The closest we have
is "Copha" which is a shortening derived from coconuts, but it's not like Crisco... U keep it in the fridge and it is ROCK HARD. It takes AGES to come to room temp... And is not something u can smear very well. I've tried using it by rubbing the block on my hands until it gets warm enough to melt off a bit... But I'm afraid because it dries so hard it might affect the gum paste consistency. I have also tried spray cooking oil (I guess it's like Pam?) sprayed on my hands and the surface. This worked okay but again I'm not sure what it will do to the paste.
The surface I'm rolling onto is a non stick may so I rarely need to use anything but sometimes just use a light dusting of icing sugar... But the rolling part isn't where my troubles lay really, it's when I'm trying to form something like legs and arms and a face. I wonder if the Mexican modeling paste is available to AU. Hmmm.
I'll let u know how i go, it's just finding time to practice!! With my 3 yr old and my 3 month old, it's trying to catch some moments between there naps or at night if bub is asleep. I think that's why I'm getting frustrated. I finally get to sit down and experiment with modelling figures... And I can't make anything coz I'm too busy trying to sort out the paste itself lol.
Thanks for your help ladies!
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Penny, just type June Kowalczyk in the search box at the top of the page and it will bring up a link to her profile. Click on her name and the profile will come up. In the left column click on Blog Posts. That will bring up all June's blogs and I think the gumpaste recipe is the first one that will appear.
Don't give up, when you get it right, it will feel really good and be worth the pain.
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Oh how frustrating for you Penny. You sure have a lot more energy than I did with my kiddies at that age. I baked but not sure I would have had the energy to be into cake decorating.
You know you can always make your figures with just plain fondant. When I 1st started using fondant, I didn't know about online info, tutorials, YouTube etc. I just sort of muddled around figuring things out myself. Trial & Error. I made several figures, letters etc from just plain fondant. it takes longer to dry, but it does eventually dry. Can you get lard Penny? If you are making figures that no one will eat, but just for decorations, I do believe that lard would work just as well as shortening. Just a thought. Don't get discouraged.
I am sure your frustration has something to do with your lack of sleep and a busy life. Been there, Done that.
Hee Hee
Hope my suggestions help. :o)
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