I have tried both Americolor and Wilton black and my MMF turns out so funky!

Am I not adding enough cocoa powder so that I don't have to use as much color, or is it the cocoa powder causing the funkiness? I've tried it with 1 T and another batch with 1/4 c.

I don't want to resort to buying SI, but I probably will if I need to cover a cake in black.

My black MMF is not smooth when you roll it out (it would be perfect for an asphalt look), it's kinda crumbly--not stretchy at all.

I would try it with a darker color base (red, blue, purple) but it seems all dark food coloring acts weird in MMF.

Does anyone have it mastered yet?

sounds to me like it's drying out. try adding some shortening to it.

Yeah, I tried that, but I think it is more a chemical reaction with the food color. As I'm stirring and kneading it it feels different than regular or lighter colored MMF--almost rubbery.

It doesn't seem to want as much PS as normal, but it needs it. My first batch was sticky and soft when I didn't knead in all of the PS. Even the sticky soft batch wasn't elastic and I thought maybe there was too much cocoa powder, which is why I only used 1 T this time.

I add just enough cocoa to make it a middle shade brown...then start adding black Americolor until it gets black... make sure you're sifting the cocoa in... then start adding your PS...make it a little more stickier than you normally do, as the chocoalte MMF tends to cool harder than normal.. if its too ######### it cools, warm it up SLIGHTLY in the microwave before rolling it out...

Okay. I'll give it another shot. Thanks for the tips!