There are various edible sculpturing methods available, such as fondant, gum paste, and marzipan. These are all related in ingredients, but have differences in the use and application of each.
To begin with, fondant is a sugary substance and can take different forms when cooked in certain ways – for example, you can experience it as rolled dough, which can be molded; or in another way, you can experience it in use as a candy center. That’s right – those gummy juices coming out of the middle of a chocolate that people love is actually fondant. The most popular form of use for fondant however is the traditional “rolled fondant”, and you see thisfondant use on many of thewedding and specialty cakes that have become quite popular over the past several years. Fondant is malleable, and can be spread out into a thin paste (for example, on wedding cakes), but could also be shaped into other objects. It does not however hold its shape for object creation as Gum Paste.
Gum paste is an edible material, which like Fondant, is used in cake decoration. Gum Paste (also referred to as Sugar Paste) is made with gum ingredients and other ingredients. The main difference between gum paste and Fondant, is that gum paste dries quicker and dries into a harder, shape-holding form. If you wanted to make a flower decoration or an object decoration, you would use Gum paste so that your object can hold its shape. However, both gum paste and fondant can be rolled and molded but fondant tastes much better than gum paste hence, it is best for covering cakes. Gum paste can be rolled very thin, thus it is widely used to create sugar flowers. Fondant is also capable of creating fine and imprinting designs on cakes. So, if you want to create something for a cake that will hold on to its shape, it may be better to choose a form of gumpaste instead of fondant which is much softer.
Disclaimer: The information in this article does not represent any particular company’s opinions or suggestions. Edible ink printing should follow the instructions of the manufacturer from whom you buy your edible ink supplies, and it should be noted that the mixing of edible inks and regular inks should not be done.