I know that purple is problematic and had real evidence of that today. I tinted the white Duff/Fondarific fondant lavender using Americolor Regal Purple. It looked fine until the cake was on display.

The cake was outside, 65degrees, no direct sunlight (on a shaded porch) and in about an hour the lovely lavender was pale blue. The cake was still pretty but definitely not the original color. The darker purple fondant ribbons were dusted with luster dust and stayed true to color.

Are the pre-dyed colors of fondant more stable for color than when you add color into white?

I need both dark purple and lavender for this same cousin's wedding in June where the cake will be outdoors, potentially in heat for a long time. Any hints for keeping her purple true to color?

thanks
Kristy

I have not had much luck with making the more vibrant colors with MMF: red, purple or blue. I now use Satin Ice for the darker colors. I don't know what the purple would do mixed into white MMF as far as fading goes, but I know straight it doesnt change.

I did a purple coach bag and I had the same problem. So what I did was I airbrushed it lightly with purple mixed with pearl and sprayed it all with that and it kept the color. I got away with this because the whole cake was either lavender or purple so I could spray all of it uniformly. (Its in my pics) On another occassion I had to do a dark purple along with gold and black do for this cake I used satin ice tinted fondant and the color held perfectly. I suppose if you mix white into it will still hold the color fine. Why don't you do a trial run just to make sure. HTH!!!

I too have nothing but trouble with gel purple. Perhaps you could experiment with powder colours?

I'm planning to do a test on the colors, esp so I can get the proportions dow for how much purple to blend with the white for the lavender tiers. I may mix some up and leave little discs of it out in the daylight to see how well it holds the color.

Kristy

I went to an Albert Uster demo a while ago and they have this Massa Amethyst fondant that they were very proud of it's ability to hold the color. You might want to look into that...
http://www.auiswisscatalogue.com/505094/1-ENRO.html

Just as an "FYI Sidebar" to this post, here is the thread where I explain the history of why purple fades (actually .... the culprit is the RED that is fading away).

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-653200-red.html+dye

Hello all, I am doing my first wedding cake for my sister-in-law.
She would like deep purple roses made of fondant/GP.
I've done a bunch of reading about purple fading in the light.
I'm hoping someone can answer some questions for me:

- has anyone confirmed whether working with purple fondant to begin with (e.g. Duff's or Satin Ice) will help alleviate the fading problem?
- has anyone tried adding baking soda (I read 1 tsp to 1Lb of fondant) to see if it helps, and if so, was it added to the precoloured fondant or when you were mixing color into white fondant?

- what if I made the flowers a couple days before the cake is due, kept them in the dark in a box and then put only took them out a few hours before the cake went on display...would that be okay?

Sorry for all the inquiries. This is my first wedding cake and even though it's for a relative, I'd really like it to turn out nice for her.