Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi, anyone know where I can source butterfly cupcake cases and also how long in advance can I make fondant figures (bride and groom) and what medium should I make them from ??? Help!!!!

The figures should be made from modeling paste, and once they’ve dried out, can be stored in a cardboard box for months, or longer. Can’t help with the butterfly bun cases, sorry.

Hi annescakes

Google ‘butterfly cupcake cases’ and you’ll have a choice of all different suppliers. x

Hi, thank you. Can I colour the modelling paste as I do fondant or will I have to buy different colours of modelling paste? Is there a preferred modelling paste? Thanks

what’s a modelling paste? or is it a UK term for something that we use differently here in US?

Modelling paste is gumpaste to make figures and flowers with.

and gumpaste is fondant mixed with tylose?

It’s a quick way of making gumpaste short of making it from scratch or buying it already made. Recipes vary, some are made with the finest of powdered icing mixed with other ingredients for the making of extremely realistic flowers. This may be refered to as flower paste or petal paste. Less refined or porcelaine type of sugar work can be made with gumpaste. It is the medium mostly used for making figures.
Climate and home environmental conditions affect the paste to react in different ways. In hot humid or wet conditions, the sugar will draw mositure from the air and the paste will remain soft and sticky making it difficult for larger objects to dry. A lot of decorators dry models in the lowest settling of their ovens. The oven is warmed on the very lowest setting, then turned off. Models are placed in the residual heat to draw off the moisture until cool.
There are other types of gum which can be used to make gumpaste. The most popular it seems is tylose followed by CMC powder. These are chemically produced and act to give paste body by drawing out the mositure. Another gum is gum tragacanth. This stuff is a natural product extracted from the Acacia tree. It is the strongest acting of all the additives and paste made with it requires resting 24 hours before use.
With so many very good commercially made modelling pastes, many professional decorators opt not to make their own in favour of bought.