Using my Silhouette to cut Gum paste

One of the reasons I wanted to get a silhouette was so I could use it with fondant.  Now the silhouette machine isn’t approved by the FDA to use with food.  But I have NO doubt it will be soon.  It’s fantastic.  And because it’s the silhouette you get all the same benefits.  Use your own font’s, images, create your own images, etc…

For this trial cake I used the brightest colors I had on hand so you could see it better.  To begin with you want to use a different blade that what comes with the normal silhouette.  I bought this blade and kit from Linda McClure.  Just getting the blade is worthwhile, but she also has great instructions, tips, tricks, etc…   Including a recipe for making your own gumpaste (which I haven’t tried yet, but it looks easy enough).

I ended up having to remix my fondant so it changes colors halfway through the tutorial.  I didn’t want to bother with gumpaste this time.  So I used my fondant and added some gumpaste powder to give it strength.  This is important because it will allow you to roll out the fondant super thin and stay strong. It does make it very tough, so don’t add TOO much.

I rolled it out the best I could then I used my pasta maker to roll it out even more.  I didn’t go to the thinest, but the second thinnest I could get it.

Linda shares what she uses for a mat, and how she makes/creates it too.  I’m assuming you could use a cricut cake mat, but I just followed her great instructions.  It took some trial and error to get large enough sheets the right size to work with.

It also took quite a bit of trial and error to get the cutting just right.  Lucky the silhouette software has a great test cut feature!  First I had to adjust the blade itself correctly, THEN I had to adjust the thickness in the silhouette software.  Linda teaches you using her favorite software, but I personally enjoyed using the silhouette software.

Here you can see that the font and writing worked great, but if you look JUST above it the more detailed design I wanted didn’t work out too well.  it was TOO detailed for the soft fondant.  It might’ve worked with gumpaste, but honestly I think I needed to make the design simpler.

I just used clear vanilla to attach the writing.  I ended up going with flowers instead of the detailed grass/flowers I wanted.  Anyway, it was a great trial run, and I can’t wait to play with it some more!

I BOUGHT my very silhouette kit from Dessert Designs. I am in no way affiliated with them, and they don’t even know I wrote this post. I just think she has a great product (the special blade) and good ideas and instructions.