A lot of you asked how I made the gum paste brooch for the purse cake project that I am working on. So I thought that I would show you, how you can make it yourself. This gum paste brooch can be made in the colours you like and it will look just as beautiful as a side decoration on a cake. Try and use a lustre dust that is close to the colour you will use for the ruffles.
If you like, you can make it with regular rolled fondant icing, but using gum paste will help it to firm up quicker. You can add a little Tylo powder (CMC) to the rolled fondant and it will be just as good as gum paste.
This is what I use:
White gum paste or rolled fondant icing
Rolling pin
Small knife
Ribbon cutter (FMM)
Bulbous Cone tool (PME no.9) or another similar pointy tool
Ball tool (FMM)
Frilling tool (Orchard)
Soft brush
2 brushes for painting and for the Tylo glue
Quick rose cutter 40mm (FMM)
Round cookie cutter 65mm
Tylo glue
Gel paste food colour (I used Avocado from AmeriColor)
lustre dust (matching the gel paste food colour) (I used Iced Pine from Edable Art, a UK brand)
White pearl lustre dust
Gold lustre dust (I used Golden Sands from Edable Art, a UK brand)
Clear alcohol or lemon extract (for painting the gold “button”)
Tylo powder (if you use regular rolled fondant icing)
Cornstarch powder
Kleenex
Plastic bag (not showing)
Step 1:
Roll out the white gum paste to a 3mm thickness and cut out 1 circle and 1 quick rose with the cutters. Set aside the circle and let it dry.
Step 2:
Dust a little cornstarch on your work area and with the frilling tool frill the petals slightly on the quick rose. Place the quick rose on a Kleenex and dust it with the white pearl lustre dust.
Step 3:
Lift the petals in the middle and set aside to dry.
Step 4:
Colour some of the gum paste in your chosen colour for the ruffles. Next roll it out thinly. Use a ribbon cutter or a knife to cut strips of fondant about 30mm wide. Place the strips in a plastic bag to prevent them from drying out.
Step 5:
Take one of the fondant strips and place it on a Kleenex. Take the matching lustre dust and work it into the fondant with the soft brush.
Step 6:
Make small ruffles from the fondant strips and glue them on the fondant circle with a little Tylo glue. Continue until it is all covered with ruffles. You may need to adjust and cut the ruffles to fit inside the circle. Set aside to dry.
Step 7:
Take a piece of gum paste and roll it into a ball. Flatten it slightly and use the ball tool to make an indentation in the middle (remember that it should fit inside the quick rose petal). Next take the bulbous tool and make small indentations all the way around. Set aside to dry a little before painting it with gold.
Before you pack away the white gum paste, remember to make a small ball/pearl that will fit into the “gold button”. Let the small ball/pearl dry before you brush it with the white pearl lustre dust.
Step 8:
Place the “button” on a Kleenex and mix some gold lustre dust with few drops of clear alcohol. Paint the button and set aside. When the painted button is dry, brush it well with dry gold lustre dust.
Step 9:
Time for assembling the gum paste brooch. Brush a little Tylo glue on the back of the quick rose and place it in the middle of the ruffles. Next glue the gold “button” in the middle of the the quick rose and finally glue the small ball/pearl on top. (Sorry I left out the little pearl on the photo) Now let the Tylo glue dry well before you use the gum paste brooch on your cake creations!
Happy Caking!
Louise
This site is so inspiring. Am trying to be self-taught and this is what I need to achieve a lot. My question is, is tracaganth same as tylo powder? Thanks so much for what you are doing to change the world of cake making and decoration.
This is the loveliest site I ever had the privilege of visiting. Thank You so much, I know now that i can do much more than I do already. Will love to keep in touch.
What is the diffetence between gumpaste and fondant/sugatpaste many thanx
Gum paste have been added a gum agent which makes the paste more strong and flexible. It also dries the paste faster.
Fondant & sugar paste is the same thing only named different depending in which country you are. In the UK it is often known as sugar paste.
youre the bessssssssstttttttttttttt , thanks 4 sharing , even it take me a while to find a blog but it worthy….thanks thanks a bigggg thanks from malaysia
This is so beautiful. Can you use this as a topper on a cake with butter cream frosting or does it have to be a fondant covered cake?
You can use it on butter cream cakes. However it may get a little soft but because of the tylo powder in the gum paste it usually takes a while before it gets very soft.
I’ve been all over the internet looking for photos to show kids how to make pretty strawberries from playdough. Even though this is gum paste, the photos are exactly what I’m looking for, cause they are more straightforward than verbal instructions! Thank you so much!! =]
You are so welcome.
Very impressive. Thank you for sharing this. I’ll be looking forward for your next post.
I love this! The pictures are very easy to follow. Thank you.
thanks so much! this is wonderful!
thank you so much for yet another wonderfull tutorial!I live in asia tropics and on rainy days my gum paste and fondant decore melts!It’s a desaster! I think it is due to the humidity,any ideas on how to avoid this?
I don’t think that you can avoid it 100% but if you can get some Tylo powder/CMC or GumTex (Wilton brand) it may help.
I like your frilling tool mine does not have the little ridges. Lovely tutorial.
Thanks! It’s from Orchard Products a UK brand.
You make this seem too easy. What do the rest of us do… 🙂
Absolutely genius! (as always) I was wondering how you would get the ruffle effect. I’ve never seena ribbon cutter but I HAVE TO HAVE IT!!!
Great project. I’m going to give it a try (mini version) on cupcakes this weekend!
Emma, love the thought of a mini version for cupcakes 🙂 The ribbon cutter is great!
The purse cake will be up with next post. It takes a little longer because I am making a tutorial for it along the way.