I am doing a Dr. Seuss cake in October and want to paint the red stripes on the hat, and the green grass and blue sky. There will also be a book as the bottom layer...the design was chosen by my friend and I know it is a mixture of many cakes on here.

My question is...painting on MMF...what is the best thing to mix your gel coloring with? If I use vodka or another drinking alcohol...can you taste it? Might be a dumb question, but these are real religious people who don't drink and probably wouldnt appreciate the vodka taste!!!

I just like this idea so much better than making a batch of red fondant! This way I can make all white and paint from there.

The alcohol evaporates. You could use clear vanilla extract instead if you wanted. Vodka won't leave a taste behind, but vanilla will.

Vodka has no taste to leave behind. Thst is why it is so favored among the young college students who are just starting to drink. All the buzz with no alcohol taste. ;D

Anyway, the alcohol evaporates off. There is a you tube video where a lady shows making a carved pumpkin cake to look like a real pumpkin. She mixed Wilton gel colors with water and paints it right on the fondant.

The vodka evaporates... plus remember, most extracts are in a base of alcohol... but so little is used and it's cooked out that no one gets drunk on cake (well, perhaps a sugar coma if they eat too much but that's different lol)... the amount of vodka (even ignoring the evaporation) isn't that much anyway... I bought an itty bitty version that you'd get on an airplane and that's lasted for painting a LOT of cakes and it's still got enough in there for a few more.

My partner is a recovering alcoholic (24 years so no way he's ever wanting to screw that up) and has no issue with eating a cake that's had vodka paint used on it because of the alcohol evaporating.

One thing I have noticed though, is there are times I've painted with the dye directly too, if I wanted it to be boldly colored, so remember, the more vodka the lighter the color... experiment ahead of time, so you know what to expect when doing the 'real deal'.

I use Everclear. It evaporates quicker and doesn't leave a taste either. You have to be careful because it evaporates very quickly and can dry up in your container you are using for the paint.

Here are a few cakes and cookies I've painted on using americolor gels with a paintbrush. I didn't dilute the colors with anything, just used them right out of the bottle (I squirted a bit onto a foam plate) it was the perfect consistency for painting!

Ok, so it didn't attach them: here they are

http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/apps/photos/photo?photoid=5092195

http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/apps/photos/photo?photoid=5092207

http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/apps/photos/photo?photoid=71064106

http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/apps/photos/photo?photoid=5092118

http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/apps/photos/photo?photoid=5092162

http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/apps/photos/photo?photoid=73672167

it depends on what brand of colors you're planning on painting with.

Wilton colors - i found that i have to mix in water or alcohol. They won't really dry if you use water they will stay kind of tacky though

Americolor gels - perfect consistency already for painting, these are my preferred colors anyway so i have them around already.