Difference Between Fondant And Gumpaste

Cake is cake is cake is cake. But not everything that it is made up of is the same! The icing and flower petals are modelled with different materials- fondant and gum paste respectively. Here are the irreconcilable differences between the two so that you know which to use were while making cakes.

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1. Chemical makeup

• Fondant and gum paste are distinctly different from each other even though they might look similar when rolled out.Fondant is made up of sugar, water and either food grade glycerin, corn syrup or gelatin.
  

• Gum paste consists of egg whites, confectioners' sugar, vegetable shortening and edible gums.

2. Alter ego

• Fondant is the same as what people call “Sugar paste”.

• Another moniker for gum paste is florist paste.

3. Durability

• Gumpaste is known for its hard drying quality so much so that it shatters like glass if you drop it. But it is strong and hard enough to hold complex hand crafted shapes.

• Fondant, in contrast, is very soft, sticky and tends to fold and get squishy when hand crafting shapes. This is why it is used to cover the whole cake like icing, whereas gum paste is used just for embellishments.

4. Texture

• Fondant has a smoothness to it that adds to the polished looks cakes have and has the same consistency as play dough.  It is soft and pliable and very easy to roll. Quite the easy cookie!

• Gum paste on the other hand is hard and brittle but can be rolled to a thin sheet and moulded easily to form petals or cake decorations.

5. Uses

Fondant is more than appropriate to use for covering occasion cakes, as long as the decoration lies flat against something. However, for those intricate designs and decorations with complicated shapes, gum paste is a better choice. If you see flower petals, roses, lilies and carnation work on a cake - chances are they are made of gum paste, not fondant.

6. Taste

Both are edible but Fondant is tastier and sweeter than gum paste. Perhaps that’s why it is used as an icing cover - it literally takes the cake!

7. Hot stuff

Fondant can handle high temperatures so you don’t have to worry about it melting and ruining the entire cake. Gum paste won’t melt either but it dries quickly and may turn brittle.

8. Storage

Both fondant and gum paste dry easily and so should be stored in a wrapped bag inside a fully sealed, air tight container. The residual and unused portion can be put in a plastic container. In case of gum paste shapes and decorations that are finished to completion, store them in a cardboard box, not plastic container lest they sweat and melt all that hard work away!

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