Ingredients:
1lb/450g. icing sugar
3 teaspoons. gum tragacanth or gum arabic - warmed (optional)
5 teaspoons water
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine
2 teaspoons white fat (you might see this labelled as dough softener)
2 teaspoons liquid glucose
1 egg white
Method:
- Sprinkle gelatine onto water, leave to 'sponge'.
- Using a double boiler, heat the gelatine until it's melted.
- Warm the liquid glucose and white fat together, then add the gelatine, egg white, and gum (if used)
- Beat in the icing sugar (by hand or electric mixer) until it's stringy.
- Grease your hands slightly with a little more white fat, and knead the paste into a ball.
- Split mixture into about four sections and seal each into a polythene bag (squeeze out as much air as you can) and then into an airtight container in the fridge.
- The paste is best used within 48 hours, but you can keep it up to a fortnight in the fridge, or freeze it for even longer.
When working with it, you'll find that using a little white fat works better than icing sugar to prevent sticking, with the added benefit that it won't leave white marks if you colour the paste. I don't bother to make sugarpaste. I do think that home-made tastes nicer, but this is one situation where I'm willing to trade taste for convenience.