How to make Edible Sugar Glue

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One of the most important substances you will use when doing any sort of cake decoration or sugarcraft is the glue. For the most part you will want to use a sugar glue that is fully edible. Ready-made edible glues are available but I would like to share a sugar glue recipe that is much more cost effective.

Why make your own sugar glue?

• For most projects you will only need a very small amount of sugar glue. If you make your own, you can control exactly how much to make, reducing the amount of waste.
• By making your own homemade glue, you can have the dry ingredients readily available so it does not go out of date.
• You will be able to alter the consistency of the glue according to the project you are making. For example, if you are sticking fondant to a larger surface, like the board for these Creme Egg Chicks or even adding the sprinkles to side of a cake like this Funfetti Sprinkle Cake, you only need a very thin sugar glue. Other edible creations might need a stronger glue, like sticking the ears onto this Yoda cake topper.
• Taste free - The recipe I use below for tylo glue has no taste so will not change your enjoyment of your cake decorations.

Tylose Glue Recipe

Ingredients and equipment needed to make this easy recipe for Tylo Glue

Tylo or Tylose Powder - Its the same thing

Cool Boiled Water- You can use warm water from a freshly boiled kettle but room temperature is best.

Small pallet knife for adding the Tylo powder and mixing together. I could not live without my mini pallet knife.

Small container for mixing and storing the glue - I use a clean yogurt pot or a tiny storage pots with a lid.

Instructions for making Tylo Glue

1. Take a tiny bit of tylo powder (around 1/10th of a teaspoon of tylose powder will be plenty for a complete cake project) and add to the bottom of your pot.
2. Add a small amount of water to the powder (probably about 3 tablespoons water). Rough estimates suggest a ration of 1 part powder to 30 parts water.
3. Mix well (some people use a small whisk but I just use my mini pallet knife) and leave to settle - I leave to settle in the fridge but room temperature is fine. Your glue mixture will thicken and the lumps will disperse in around 30 minutes.
4. If your glue is either too runny or too thick for your project, add a few drops of water or more powder.

What is Tylo?

A synthetic fine white powder made to emulate gum tragacanth. Gum tragacanth is a powder that can be used to strengthen icing.

Some people know Tylo glue as gum glue due to the consistency being gum like if made strong enough.

Most cake decorators I know will use Tylo powder as their main glue.

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What other type of glue can be used for Cake Decorating?

Egg Whites

If you are making sugar or gumpaste flowers, then you will likely need a stronger glue than sugar glue. If you are using wires in your flowers which makes the flowers inedible anyway, egg white is a good alternative. As you are using an inedible glue for a product that will not be eaten, this can be stored indefinitely in your fridge.

Warning: This will not be an edible glue.

Royal Icing

Again, if you are looking for a glue that is more robust than a sugar glue, you can use Royal icing. Royal icing is available in boxes of powder ready to make up, enabling you to make as much as you require. Alternatively, if you know you will be using quite a lot of ready made royal icing, you can buy pre-prepared royal icing in tubs.

If you make a traditional royal icing, using egg whites, it is advised that this not be given to children, the elderly and pregnant women. This is why I always opt for ready to make boxed royal icing to be on the safe side. This type of ready made royal icing is most often used for building gingerbread house kits.

How to make glue with Icing Sugar and Fondant Icing

I'm grouping these types of glue together although the types of icing do differ. This type of icing is great if you want to lightly attach something small to a cake but don't need a lot of icing or need it to particularly be super secure. In fact, the front chest of this Swedish Gnome/Gonk can be made by using fondant or icing sugar.

To make fondant or sugar paste icing glue, simply add a few drops of cold water in a pot with a blob of fondant icing and start to mix together. It will form a sticky mess at first and as you add more water, will eventually form into a glue type consistency. Be careful not to add too much water at first - If you do, add another blob of fondant icing and continue to mix until you get a paper mache consistency.

Chocolate Glue

If you are using Chocolate fondant, you might like to mix some of the chocolate with the Tylose sugar glue - for example when attaching the head to this Edible Gruffalo

Candy Melts

A lot of people use Candy Melts when building fondant decorations. I do not particularly like the taste of candy melts but they can be very handy if you want to mix a particular colour of sugar glue.

To make Candy Melt glue, simply blast in a microwave-safe bowl in 10 seconds intervals or place in a bowl above boiling water in a small saucepan until melted.

How to store your sugar glue

In the fridge in the container you made it in, with a lid or cling film/ plastic wrap on the surface to stop it forming a crust.

Edible glue can keep for 3-4 days.

How much is sugar glue?

So cheap! For a 85g pot of Tylo Powder it costs less than £10. With no exaggeration, you will be able to get thousands of portions of sugar glue out of one of these pots as you only need a tiny bit of powder. I have made hundreds of wedding and large cakes and barely made a dint in my pot. If you estimate around 1-2 pence per portion of edible glue using this, you will be about right. It really is that cheap!

Compare this with a 60g pot of ready made glue that costs £3.55 and needs to be used up within 2 weeks and you will know why I advocate making your own edible glue every time.

Can I freeze edible glue?

I wouldn't bother - As you will see above, it is so cheap and easy to make your own edible glue recipe that it is not worth taking up space in your freezer.

Helen is a Blogger, Food Writer, Marketing Manager and Cake Expert. Go here to read the story of Helen and the Costello Family.