Hi guys,
I'm making a wedding cake next week where the bride wants a deep red (almost burgundy) color for all three tiers of her cake. I cautioned her that it would leave her mouth red, but she still wants it- solid deep red.

I hand make the fondant using Toba Garrett's recipe, (thanks to y'all who posted that recipe here) and was hoping to skip kneading my gel paste red into the fondant (I imagine it would take the whole bottle plus brown to achieve her color), and was wondering if anyone has any tips for me.

Sorry, I don't have an air-brush machine (I'd kill for one about now). I'm concerned about the texture of the fondant changing with all that gel color, too. Can I add the gel color to the gelatin mixture before adding the powdered sugar? Has anyone tried this? Has anyone been successful even in making a deep red fondant? Thanks for your help!!

just a thought on this. satinice makes a red red fondant. i wonder if you could add color to it to get the deeper red you want?

Hi! Yes- you can color the mixture before you add the PS.......but my new favorite way to color a cake all over is by adding the color to Vodka and "painting" it on with a sponge. If you do a couple of layers, it should give a really nice color......just be sure and let them dry between. Look at the Crawfish cake in my pictures....I painted him red. HTH!

I would love to tell you there is an easier way to get that deep red. BUT....
I can only tell you that i have added the coloring while i was mixing mmf in my stand mixer. I know that the color gets darker when it sits. I would try some in a small amout of the fondant and then you will gt an idea how much coloring your going to have to do and have it sit over night and see how much it changes.

I don't know if i helped but there you go.

Thank you so much everyone!! Looks like I'll do a bit of experimenting before the real thing. Thanks for your great ideas.

Just an idea, but Chocopan color-matches the Sherwin-Williams paint chips (at least they used to). I did this about 2 years ago for a deep/dark burgandy color and it worked out great. I was able to order over the phone and get it shipped ASAP (little extra charge). Sorry, but I dont have the phone # with me...

HTH

TammyH

Color matching no way! sounds awesome!

If that didn't work I was going to suggest going with Satin Ice's Brown Icing and then just adding in the red.

I have done the sponging method too and it works well. Just be sure to practice before you touch the cake and now matter how careful you are there will be brush marks or sponge marks. So just incorporate it into the design and say you were giving it more depth and texture like fabulous venetian plaster

good luck!

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Ohh you guys are fabulous. Now if I can only counteract that sick taste that comes with so much coloring (I tried adding it in the liquid stage of the fondant recipe). It really worked well, but with such a picky bride, I'm doing it yet again so as to get a more true red, less burgundy. What was I thinking when I dumped about an eight of a cup of gel coloring into it??? Man, I could make black from the stuff I've got. Note to self: the color of fondant CAN turn darker than the color on the label if you add enough. I should've tried the overnight color test thing, for sure. I guess that's why the first time you learn the most. Thanks for your help, all!

Don't know if it is an option but I usually make all of my deep colors from chocolate mmf. The chocolate gives you a deeper color to start with which means less food color is needed.