I really would like to try painting a cake,but I need to know what is usually used to paint the cakes (fondant) and if you are to mix the colors with vodka or is there a food safe one you can use straight from the bottle.Mixing the color with vodka seems to dilute the color.I would also like to get a good recipe for piping ,I can never get the right consistancy.Thanks for your help.

Have you tried Americolor? Their color is so strong! It's amazing. I actually use Everclear and then the color that I need. I just put a couple of drops of the everclear in. That could be why you are seeing it dilute too much as well.

Good luck!

Sometimes I paint with airbrush color or petal dusts mixed with booze.

Hi,

I always paint with the dust colours mixed with vodka, but you can use whatever clear alcohol you have to hand. I have also seen that Mich Turner uses cocoa butter instead of alcohol, but I have't gotten around to trying that yet.

For piping onto fondant I always use royal icing. It's important to get the quantities right for measuring so don't use cups to measure the ingredients. It's very important that your equipment is very clean and completely free of grease before you make your icing or it will collapse. I always use a specific bowl for making my icing. My royal icing recipe is this:

1 lb icing sugar (about 500g)
3 teaspoons powdered egg white/meringue powder
60-70 ml cold water

Sift half the icing sugar into a clean grease free bowl and add the powdered egg white. Add the water and mix just until the ingredients have been incorporated. Slowly add the icing sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time mixing inbetween. Add a few drops of water if your icing is too hard. The icing should look glossy and hold a firm peak.

For piping lettering you need a soft peak for your icing. For piping shells etc, you need a medium peak.