Ever Reliable Gumpaste (my go-to recipe)

Ever Reliable Gumpaste Recipe

When I was still a student at Bonnie Gordon College of Confectionary Arts in Toronto (back in 2015), my then instructor pastry chef, Julie Montgomery (now a pastry chef instructor at George Brown College in Toronto) introduced me to this wonderful recipe.  There is no special ingredients in this recipe but I just find it easier than the one I was used to in making sugar flowers. This was adapted from the wonderful recipe of the master of sugar flowers himself, Mr. Nicholas Lodge.

And here is the tweaked recipe that works best for me, and that might work for you too!

Ingredients

125 grams or 4 eggwhites from large eggs

750-800grams of powdered sugar, sifted

8 teaspoons of CMC or Tylose

1-2 teaspoons of crisco or vegetable shortening

Instruction

1. Beat eegwhites until bubbly and frothy, I suggest using an electric mixer for this with a paddle attachment.

2. Add powdered sugar onto the mixing bowl. Mix until sugar is fully incorporated.  You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl 1-2 times for sugar to fully incorporate into the whites.

3.  The consistency of the mixture should resemble a soft peak royal icing, if you have made that one before.  If not, the peaks should fall off instantly from the beater & on the side of the mixing bowl.

4.  Add CMC or Tylose to the mixture one teaspoon at a time to gauge the amount that goes into the mixing bowl, as not all CMC/Tylose has equal strength.  Some brands are more pure than the other.  Therefore, in my case, I sometimes stop adding at around 7-9 teaspoons of CMC altogether instead of 11 teaspoons maximum.  If the brand I'll be using is somewhat pure, I like to add less CMC, so it is easier for me to knead the gumpaste when everything is all mixed together.

5.  Scrape the sides of the bowl for the CMC to fully incorporate into the mixture, and put it back up again to mix.

6.Mixing is done the moment you hear your mixer kind of struggling, and mixture has formed into a ball.

7. Spread vegetable shortening onto the table before scraping off the gumpaste mixture off the bowl, so it won't stick on your work surface.  Don't forget to grease your hands as well!

8. Knead the gumpaste for a few minutes. The more you knead it, the whiter the sugar paste becomes.  You may need to cut it in half so it is manageable. 

9. Roll into a log.  CUt in small pieces before wrapping in an individual plastic wrap.

10.  Store the gumpaste in an airtight ziptop bags, and store in the fridge for 8-9 months.

NOTE:

Below are the sample photos of the wedding cakes with decorative elements or mostly sugar flowers I have made in the past using this wonderful gumpaste recipe!