I’ve had a few requests for the gumpaste recipe that I use, but I can’t give it out. I genuinely don’t know it for small quantities.
I make my gumpaste in very large amounts because I tend to go through it really fast.
It’s kind of a hybrid of a few different recipes, and to reduce the ingredient quantities to something that would be easily made in small amounts is more of a mental exercise than I’m willing to do.
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So instead of my recipe, you could try some of these other recipes that are commonly used.
For an article about fondant and what types there are, click here.
A popular gumpaste recipe.
The one that people seem to be using a lot now is the Nicholas Lodge one.
I personally find this one too brittle and too much like a pastillage as far as the chalky dried texture goes.
I’m not a huge fan of it overall, but people seem to be using it because it’s fast to make.
That recipe is: 125gram egg whites
825 gram confectioner’s sugar
30g tylose powder
20g shortening
Beat the eggs in a stand mixer for a minute, then add most of the sugar.
Beat it on high to make a meringue, then when it gets to soft peak stage add the tylose and beat it on high for a few seconds.
Wrap it well and refrigerate it for 24 hours before using if possible.
Recipe for quick gumpaste.
Another recipe is the “quick gumpaste” recipe, which isn’t really gumpaste, but it works.
For that all you have to do is add 1 1/2 tsp of tylose to 1 pound of store-bought fondant, or 2 tsp of tylose to 1 pound of homemade fondant.
The only problem with this version is that it tends to be more susceptible to humidity, so if you refrigerate it for any length of time it can soften up.
(Note: this recipe will NOT work with fondarific, which has candy clay in it and won’t harden up as a result!)
Classic gumpaste recipe.
The last one is the “classic” gumpaste that is also courtesy of Nicholas Lodge, but this one came from an earlier textbook.
You can mess with it to change the consistency if you live somewhere really humid or dry.
3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 tsp gum tragacanth
5 tsp cold water
2 tsp powdered gelatin
3 tsp shortening
2 tsp corn syrup
1 egg white
Put the dry ingredients in a stand mixer bowl and stir them together.
Bloom the gelatin it the water, then melt it over a hot water bath, adding the corn syrup and shortening.
Stir until it’s all dissolved then add it to the dry ingredients.
Add the egg white and beat it on slow until it’s all mixed.
Turn the mixer to high and beat until the gumpaste is white and stringy, 5-10 minutes or until it sounds like your mixer is going to struggle and die.
Wrap airtight and refrigerate for 24 hours if possible.
Knead with shortening to get it ready to use.
Adjusting the gumpaste recipe.
Try these recipes out, mix them up, change them around, etc.
You’ll find one that you like to work with and that dries the way that you want it to.
There are many variations on the basic recipe, so it’s worth playing around with them a little.
The one thing I’d say to do every time you adjust a recipe is to write down what you’ve done, because you won’t remember.
By the time you figure out what type you like best, you’ll forget whether you added one or two extra half teaspoons of tylose to the last batch.
So write down what you did and how it turned out.
You basically just need to remember that there are things that soften gumpaste, and things that dry it out or make it stiff.
Softeners include water, corn syrup, shortening, and glycerine (if your recipe calls for that, which it shouldn’t if it’s real gumpaste and not a fondant/tylose gumpaste.)
Drying/stiffening agents include gelatin, corn starch, egg white, and gums including tylose.
Start with a basic recipe, perhaps one of the ones that I posted above.
Then decide whether you think that it’s too stiff, too soft, or dries too chalky, too fast, or too slowly for your liking.
Now you’re ready to adjust it.
If it’s too soft, you can do a few things to stiffen it up:
-Reduce the liquid
-Reduce any shortening
-Increase the tylose a little bit
-Add some corn starch
-Increase the amount of gelatin or egg white
If it’s too stiff:
-Increase corn syrup
-Increase shortening
-Reduce the amount of tylose or other gums
-Reduce the gelatin
If it dries too fast or too chalky:
-Avoid adding extra corn starch
-Add gelatin to the basic recipe if it doesn’t have any in it
-Use shortening instead of corn starch when kneading or rolling the gumpaste out
If it dries too slowly:
-Eliminate glycerine if it has that in the recipe
-Add corn starch to it to dry it out
-Add egg white to the basic recipe
-Add a bit of tylose to it.
Once you get a good consistency that you like, use that as your personal custom gumpaste recipe.
Because you did write it down, didn’t you?
So that you can make it again?
Just make sure that you do that.
