Cake decoration Course – Gum paste and fondant

Gum paste and fondant

I completed this course long time back but was contemplating if I should post every lesson explaining all the details or brief to the point. As I was feeling really lazy I post the final cakes here just for the visual pleasure.

Decorating with gum paste and fondant gives a neat finish to the cakes as it is very pliable and easy to mold into flowers or any other design. I tried to make the pastes at home and found it to be quite labourious and turned to the store to buy the packets. To get the right consistency we have to mix gum paste and fondant in equal proportion and knead gently to get a smooth play-dough like consistency.

Gum Paste and Fondant is tinted by adding a drop or more of the colour as desired and then stretch it and fold it repeatedly to make the colour spread. It is then rolled into thin or thick sheets and different patterns are cut out. We learned to cover a cake board and the cake with fondant and decorate it.

This kind of decoration appeared to be pretty expensive. There are various cutters, the course kit, gum paste, fondant, roll and cut mats, imprint mats and rolling pins of two different sizes. The process of creating the decorative pieces is very interesting but involves a lot of elbow grease.

The topics in our course included making

• Bow Loops
• Mum Base, Rose Base
• Assembling a Bow
• Basic Principles of Floral Cake Design
• Calla Lily and assembling it
• Rosebud and Rose
• Carnation base and Carnation
• Calyxes and Leaves
• Daisy
• Mum
• Eyelet, Ruffle, and Ball Borders

Explaining each step is a tad lengthy so I jump to the end product created by all participants. I will surely explain the techniques used when I do them again. This is the cake I decorated without any intention of making it look like a hat!

Here are the final cakes by our group

The drift wood feature was very creative!

This decoration was by a 11 year old participant, all by herself. Very cute!

Created by another young girl.

Bow and ball border

Pattern on the cake made by imprint mat

  This course opened up my mind to explore new patterns and decorating possibilities. It was very relaxing as well as stimulating!