Easy Gumpaste Recipe

This is my favorite easy to make homemade gumpaste recipe that preforms amazing! This is Nicholas Lodge's recipe and we love it here at Avalon Cakes! It's easy to make, cost efficient and you can color it while you're making it! Bonus!

Yield:2 lbs* (approx)

Ingredients

▢ 125 g Egg Whites - fresh or pasteurized
▢ 725 g powdered sugar - 10x if available
▢ 30 g tylose powder - *27g if you're in a dry climate
▢ 20 g Vegetable Shortening
▢ 100 g powdered sugar - *additional for kneading

Instructions

Place the egg whites in a mixer bowl fitted with the flat paddle or scraper paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on high speed for 10 seconds to break up the egg whites. Turn the mixer to the lowest speed; slowly add the 725 grams of powdered sugar to make a soft consistency royal icing.
Scrape those sides! Turn up the speed to setting 3 or 4 for about two minutes.
Make sure the mixture is at the soft-peak stage. It should look shiny, like meringue, and the peaks should fall over. ** (If coloring the entire batch, add the paste, gel or liquid color at this stage, making it a shade darker than desired.) White gel color can be added to make whiter gum paste.
Turn the mixer to the slow setting and sprinkle the tylose in over a five second time period. Turn the speed up to the high setting for a few seconds. This will thicken the mixture. It should feel a little spongy, and when you press you finger in it shouldn't stick.
Scrape the mixture out of the bowl onto a work surface that has been sprinkled with some of the reserved 100 grams of powdered sugar. Place shortening on your hands and knead the paste, adding enough powdered sugar to form a soft but not sticky dough. You can check by pinching with your fingers; they should come away clean.
Place the finished paste in a zip-top bag, then place the bagged paste in a second bag and seal well. Mature in the fridge for 24 hours, if possible, before use.

Notes

When you are ready to use the paste, cut off a small amount and knead a little vegetable shortening into the paste. If coloring at this stage, knead the color into the paste until the desired shade is achieved.
When not in use, the paste will need to be stored in the refrigerator. Before use, remove from refrigerator and allow the paste to come to room temperature. Knead a small amount of shortening into the paste.
Always store the paste vacuum-sealed with a food saver-type system, if available, or wrap in plastic wrap and place or in zip-top bags with as much air removed as possible. The paste will keep under refrigeration for approximately six months. You can keep the paste longer by freezing it. Be sure to use zip-top freezer bags. If you will be freezing a batch of paste, allow it to mature for 24 hours before placing into the freezer. The paste can be kept in the freezer for several years with no problems and can be taken out of the freezer, thawed, used and refrozen without any problems or ill effect on the paste.
Less tylose can be used if you do not want the gum paste to dry as fast or if making dark colors that typically dry the gum paste out (i.e. black, dark green, purple). If you are having issues with your gum paste being too tight or dry, I would recommend using less tylose in the recipe.