My first successful Gumpaste dough....

I decided to use the Gum-Tex Karaya from Wilton a few days ago. Bought it from ICCA (International Cake Craft & Artistry) recently. Their Malaysian HQ is in Petaling Jaya (PJ).

So I followed the recipe on the Gum-Tex container as my base. I halved it in case it didn't turn out good as usually happened with my previous attempt at making gumpaste/modelling paste.

I started with sifting the Gum-Tex with my icing sugar. Leave about 1/2 cup of sugar for mixing in later during the 'dough' stage. Then, I put my glucose syrup into a cup and added 3 part hot water and 1 part lemon juice. Put the cup into the microwave and heat it on medium for 1 minute. The glucose became thin and I thought that this would make sense to pour into the icing sugar mix. So, I did. I was even able to use a spoon to stir it a little.

Then, after the liquid glucose was coated by the icing sugar, I started to use my fingers. That's when I began to doubt. The instruction said, the mix would turn very soft. Mine didn't. It was crumbly and dry. All I got was this mixture that resembled breadcrumbs or the crumbs you get
when mixing butter and flour for shortcrust pastry. What kind of 'soft' did Wilton mean?

I started thinking that this was actually Wilton's recipe to make the 'Wilton Just-add-water gumpaste mix'. Hmm....water.

Time to improvise. I added in a 1/2 tsp of water and worked it in. Still crumbly. Added 1/2 tsp more water. Started to stick but still crumbly. Added another 1/2 tsp of water and really knead it in like doing a bread dough by adding more sugar that I kept aside in the beginning. Then, it
started to look like the dough of the experienced sugarcrafters I saw many times on the Internet. Oh....thanks Heaven.

So, in the end, this is my recipe:

2 cups icing sugar (set aside 1/2 cup for kneading)
1/2 tbs Gum-Tex
1-1/2 tsp hot water
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tbs liquid glucose
1-1/2 tsp water for kneading

1. Sift Gum-Tex with 1-1/2 cups sugar and make a well.
2. Mix together 1-1/2 tsp hot water, 1/2 tsp lemon juice and liquid
glucose in a cup and heat in the microwave for 1 minute.
3. Pour the melted glucose into the icing sugar well and start mixing
it in with the fingers.
4. Mixture will resemble bread crumbs.
5. Add water 1/2 tsp at a time.
6. Knead like a bread dough.
7. The dough will turn out smooth eventually.
8. Keep in a clingwrap and place in an airtight container till ready
to use.

As I'm writing this, the 'dough' is still in the clingwrap. Would it work? It felt hard like a piece of clay when I touched it last night. Wilton says we can add a little shortening to soften it a bit when we are ready to use it. Sounds good. So, I'm not too worried because that's a technique I've seen a few skilled sugarcrafters do online.

Good luck to me. Besides, it's Wilton. You can't go wrong sugarcrafting with Wilton, can you?