Goop And Glue...Cake Decorating Essentials

If you're ever out of baking spray, you know, the spray that has the flour in it, I have a solution for you.  Make some goop.  Funny name, I know, but you can make it out of things that I bet you already have in your kitchen.  All you have to go is mix together equal parts of flour, vegetable oil and shortening.  Whisk it until smooth and put it in a container with a lid.  Now just store it in your fridge until you need it.  If by chance it separates, just mix it back together.  The jar size that I made lasted for about 5 months. 

I used...

1/3c flour
1/3c vegetable oil
1/3c shortening

I then placed it in a half pint mason jar with a lid and stored it in my refrigerator.  Whenever you need it, use a pastry brush (or napkin) and dip it in the goop and brush onto the pan.  Use enough to cover the pan completely without using too much.  A little goes a long way!

Now, on to the glue.  Edible glue that is.  This is really good for gumpaste or fondant decorations that you need to stick together or onto a cake.  This works MUCH better than using water.  All it is, is tylose powder and water.  There's no real measurement to this, just remember that a little tylose powder goes a long way.  I used a very small container, filled it with water, added a very small amount of powder and mixed with a fork.  If it gets too thick, just add more water because your water to tylose powder ratio is off.  No big deal.  When you're done, put the lid on a store it in the fridge.
 

Another edible glue (which I didn't make for this blog) is using fondant and adding water to make a paste.  More like the consistency of the white school glue.  You can store that in your fridge as well.  This, too, works better than using water to adhere your decorations.