I have been asked to do this cake for a wedding in July. I don't know whose cake this is - the picture was just emailed to me. If it belongs to a CC'er, please let me know so that I can make sure it is okay for us to use it.

On to my questions ... Is there any way that I can make black fondant or shall I go ahead and get it ordered? I noticed that Global Sugar Art has Satin Ice Black Vanilla and Choco-Pan on sale right now. I really want it to taste good and I know that there are a LOT of threads on the subject, but I would love to hear what people like.

This cake will need to serve between 75-100. I'm thinking that I will either do 14, 10, 6 or 12, 10, 8 (using party size servings). I don't "do" fondant cakes, so I would rather go with the smaller sizes if I can. Maybe even drop down some more and do four tiers??? With the offset squares, can I go with a 2" difference or do I need to stick with 4"?

Would 2 lbs of fondant be enough to cover the 10x4" square and do dots on the other two? I'm thinking that I would do pearls for the border, but probably match the tier colors so I would need black for that too.

Thanks so much - I really hope I can do this!

It is easier to just order it, but you could just air brush the large black one.

I am not good at figuring sizes but I have tried to make black fondant with no luck. Whenever I need black (or red for that matter) I just order it, easier and no worry that the color may come out grey or taste gross with all the coloring in it. Good luck

Even with Americolor Super Black gel color, I was not able to get a deep black. I always use the black Satin Ice or add the black gel color to dark chocolate fondant.

Thanks for the responses. I don't have an air brush, so I guess I'd better go ahead and order fondant. Any preference between Choco Pan and Satin Ice or do you think something else tastes better?

Here is a link for fondant. http://www.earlenescakes.com/Fondantchart.html

If you are using Earlene servings sizes, she has the sizing displayed here http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

If you are using Wiltons, here is something that may help:
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/serving-amounts-all.cfm

If you use dark cocoa in place of some of the powdered sugar in mmf it will be almost black. You only have to add a little black icing color to get it completely black. I did this by mistake once trying to just make chocolate mmf.

Does it really take 6 lbs of fondant for a 10x4" square?

I'll try to make chocolate MFF first - adding dark chocolate and dutch process cocoa. I have black powdered color ... maybe I can get it dark enough without using too much color. Probably not, but I'll try ... and then I'll go ahead and order black and white. I guess I need to use the same kind for everything .... -

When you are making your MMF add the color to the melted mixture, get it a tad bit darker than you want the color to be, this has always worked for me. I do it this way for black, red and darker blues. The only drawback is you have to have a whole batch of fondant one color. One more thing for you, I have found that the smaller the cake the harder it is to get fondant smooth, I always do best with my 12, 10, 8 inch sizes! Hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!

Justbeck, do you make black fondant?

mw902, would you PM me and tell me how you do your black fondant? I don't mind having a whole batch of black and everything else will be white.

Thanks!

I use chefmaster black all the time with no problem. The color is nice and dark. You have to keep in mind that color will make fondant softer.

Edna

Thanks, Edna. I'm going to make a batch tomorrow and see how it turns out.

I've made black and red red fondant before with out too much of a problem. I have made it by adding in the color while mixing it. I used a recipe similar to Michele Foster's (sorry if I misspelled the name) where you heat your liquids and fat and added it to the powder sugar in the mixer with a dough hook. I added the food coloring to the liquids then added more as needed when it mixed. I did have to add more powder sugar since you are using quite a bit of color gel.

I have also just kneaded in black coloring to get it when I didn't want the whole batch black.

I used Americolor Super Black.

Here are the links to the cakes with the black fondant.

Homemade fondant with black kneaded in:
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1363955

Homemade fondant with color added when making it:
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=852803

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=852793

Thanks, TexasSugar. I'm going to try Michele's recipe tomorrow. I have black powder color, so I'll try that first. I have Super Black too, so maybe it will work between the two of them.

I would suggest you buy the black fondant. Adding too much gel color makes changes the fondant's consistency.

Oh yes, I forgot about the powdered food coloring. Let me know how it turns out since I have no experience with it. Good luck =]

i have done black mmf using alkalized cocoa. i mix it with ps before adding the melted mm's. then if it's lighter than what i needed, i just add black of americolor. i let it rest for an hour or so to make it darker. i guess using black powder food color will do the same thing. i used it to make the batman munny and it logo, it's posted on my photos.

I did a half batch of MFF with 3 oz white chocolate - 1 1/2 t of black powder. I could tell it wasn't going to be dark enough so I added 12 drops of Super Black, then 12 more. It's actually not bad right now and it should darken up as it sits.

I'm going to try again with dark chocolate and cocoa. This is for a wedding cake and I'm assuming she is going to want white cake. I would love for my fondant to be so good that everyone wants to eat it, so the flavor will need to go with the cake.

Anyway, I'm going to email Michele and see if she makes black. I don't know why I didn't ask her in the first place. Thank goodness I have a massage this afternoon!!

Thanks to everyone for your help. I'll keep you posted ...

I just made black MMF last night (needed it for tractor tires) I only needed a small amount (1 lb.) I started making it the regular way - kneading in the powdered sugar, when it was managable, I took about 1/3 of it and instead of using powdered sugar, I just used cocoa to finish it. That made it a nice brown color -then I added the gel to get it dark black, worked like a charm.

Warning - wear goves when making the black fondant - it stains everything - I hope the folks peel it off the cake before eating it - there will be a lot of ugly smiles afterwards if they don't!

I make Michele Fosters fondant using chocolate then I add Americolor Black to the gelatin/corn syrup mixture after it comes out of the microwave! I also add dark cocoa into the mixer with the powdered sugar. It works great and tastes like chocolate heaven! Here are a couple pics of my recent cakes that i made the black for.

I understand shy you count, but for black, I just keep adding, it sometimes takes so much that is easier to go by ounces!..
Edna