295596 Mon Jan 05 10:30:54 -0800 2004 1 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1624982 Can anyone tell me about gumpaste flowers? Do they look real? taste good? Mon Jan 05 10:30:54 -0800 2004 0 Elle 1 1624998 The short answer is that you wouldn't want to eat one. Here's a typical recipe: Gum Paste Recipe 1 heaping Tablespoon Glucose 3 tablespoons warm water 1 tablespoon Gum-tex™ or tragacanth gum 1 lb. sifted confectioners’ sugar (or more) They dry hard, so you're basically eating something like a royal icing flower, but tougher, less crumbly. Edible, of course, but not yummy, like a marzipan flower. That said, gum paste flowers can be quite beautiful. You can get the petals very thin and delicate. Often, a flower is assembled by making the various petals, then allowing them to dry, then gluing them together with royal icing. This allows very complicated shapes, such as orchids. Sometimes people use wire in the flowers, which of course makes them ompletely inedible. I can see the appeal for something like a removable wedding cake-topper, but generally I would rather real flowers or flowers made from marzipan or even white modelling chocoalte. Mon Jan 05 13:14:38 -0800 2004 1624982 0 curiousbaker