How to Make Edible Glue

Edible glue, also known as sugar glue, is used to stick decorations to cakes, cookies or other decorated food items.

You can buy ready-made edible glue from cake decorating suppliers, or you can easily and cheaply make your own.

One of the main reasons I prefer to make my own is so that I can control the consistency by adjusting the amount of water in the recipe.

For attaching larger decorations to the sides of a cake, it’s best to use thicker glue so the decorations don’t slide down before the glue dries. For smaller, lighter decorations, you can use a thinner glue.

Most commercially made edible glues are quite runny, so they’re not as good for attaching larger or heavy decorations.

It’s also generally cheaper to make your own – one container of tylose or gum arabic will make you many batches of edible glue.

Ways to Use Edible Glue

• Assembling sugar flowers (gumpaste flowers)
• Assembling gumpaste figurines
• Attaching dried gumpaste or fondant decorations to cakes
• Attaching fondant pieces to wire or lollipop sticks
• Add extra decorations to a painted cake, stamped fondant cookies or painted cookies.
• Sticking sprinkles onto cakes or cookies
• Sticking edible sand to small areas on cakes or cookies

CMC powder – Also known as Tylose or Tylo powder. CMC stands for carboxymethyl cellulose, which is a common thickener used in food products like ice cream, salad dressings and gluten-free baking. It’s also used in cake decorating to make gumpaste and to harden fondant when making figurines or other 3D decorations. It’s easily available from cake decorating suppliers. The brand isn’t really important, they’re all the same thing.

Tylose is a fine white powder and makes a mostly clear edible glue.

Gum Arabic – This is an edible gum used as a thickener, emulsifier and stabiliser in many food products. It’s also available from cake decorating suppliers, although it’s not as commonly used as CMC powder.

Gum Arabic is a slightly off-white powder that makes a clear but slightly yellow-ish glue.

Both of these powders work very well as edible glue, and you can use whichever you want.

My personal preference is to use gum arabic as I find it’s a bit stickier than tylose glue, but it does have a slightly yellow tinge, so there is more risk of it being noticeable if it seeps out under a decoration.

You will also need:

• A small container with a tight-fitting lid. I’ve used small disposable sauce containers here (they can be washed and reused), but you can use any small container or small jar.
• A small food-only paintbrush for applying the glue.
• Measuring spoons.

How to Make Edible Glue

Scroll down to the recipe card for the printable edible glue recipe, or keep reading for extra tips and process photos.

Edible glue is super easy to make.

Just add the tylose powder or gum arabic to a small container and stir in the boiled and slightly cooled water. I use this random little plastic thing to stir it because it’s a nice size for this, but the end of a spoon or a toothpick will work.

The glue will look very chunky to start with, and the powder won’t fully mix into the water. Let it sit for an hour or two so the powder can fully dissolve and the glue will become clearer.

You can also microwave it for a few seconds to help dissolve it more quickly. (Only do that if your container is microwave-safe!)

In the photo below, you can see the difference between the freshly made glue (on the left) and the glue after it has sat for a while. You can also see the colour difference between the two types of glue. The tylose glue is at the top and gum arabic on the bottom.

Always make sure to close the lid of the container tightly and store the sugar glue in the fridge.

For smaller decorations like sprinkles, you can dab the glue directly onto the cake or cookie.

I like to keep a little glass of water nearby to rinse the brush regularly, as the glue can dry quite quickly on the bristles when you’re not using it.

If you make a mistake and get glue on the cake where you don’t want it, use a slightly damp cotton bud/q-tip to wipe it off. It will leave a bit of a mark, though, which is why it’s important not to use too much glue and to be very intentional about where you place the decoration.

You can see how I painted these cookies in my Painting on Cookies tutorial.

Supports

Heavy decorations being glued to the side of a cake may need to be held in place while the glue dries. Depending on the design, there are a few ways to do this.

Makeup sponges – These can be used to hold up dried gumpaste or fondant decorations. I like to stack up makeup sponges to a height where the bottom of the decoration rests on the top sponge. The sponges come in many shapes and sizes, and you can cut them into smaller pieces as needed. Use fresh makeup sponges (that haven’t been used for makeup), give them a good wash in soapy water and rinse, then let them dry completely before you use them.

Paper towels – Scrunched up or folded and stacked paper towels can be useful for holding up lighter decorations.

Toothpicks – If the design allows for hiding the resulting holes, you can use toothpicks inserted into the cake below dried gumpaste decorations to hold them as they dry. Remove the toothpicks once the glue is set. Holes in fondant can be patched with a little leftover fondant that has been melted.

Make sure you have your supports on hand before you attach the decoration – you don’t want it sliding down the cake while you nip off to grab something to support it.

You can also use the edible glue to attach non-edible decorations, like this acrylic cake name, to fondant or ganache-covered cakes.

Video

So now you know how to make edible glue for cakes and cookies 🎉 .
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments.

Here’s the printable edible glue recipe!