Fondant vs Gum Paste

ever since i post the gum paste cuppies...i've been showered with some emails asking me about the difference between fondant and gum paste/sugar paste. Well i will answer your question once and for all...

Fondant is:

1. what you use to cover your cake with. a sort of icing, you may flavor it as you wish but be sure to use quality food flavorings or you'll end up ruin your fondant.
2. yes you may flavor your fondant
3. You can cover your cake with it maximum 2 days in advance until the day of the event (remember fondant is a heavy icing choose your type of cake wisely and any longer you'll risk of the cake collapsing btw cake usually last for 3 days anyway so...)
4. you may use fondant as decorations example like edible ribbons, skirting/garret (is that how you spell it?)
5. you may make flowers using fondant but add in some gum paste into the mixture so that it could dry and harden well.
6. but bare in mind that fondant will not go as hard unlike gumpaste.

Gum Paste/Sugar Paste:

1. is what you use to make all sorts of flowers and decoration pallet/disk (like one i did for the fish cuppies)
   
2. you DO NOT use this to cover your cake as this is not its intended use
3. dry better
4. can roll it thinner for the flower petals so it'll look more realistic.(but i like making ribbon roses instead its perfect for lazy people like me!)
5. will dry and go hard

so pendek kata (in short) you use fondant as icing and gum paste for the decorations...