I've been looking online to find some low cost food coloring to practice making fondant figurines and flowers.  I've found Lorann Oils liquid food coloring and Chefmaster powder food coloring for a fairly cheap price.  From what I understand, the powder food coloring gives better colors, but can't be mixed with water.  I've read that to use powder food coloring, it's best to mix it with the dry ingredients before making royal icing and fondant/gum paste or mixing it with an alcohol, like vodka, to make a paint.  I've used liquid food coloring for gum paste figures before, but it took half of a 1 oz bottle to dye a fist-sized ball of gum paste and the last time I made a Red Velvet cake, it took a whole 1 oz bottle.  Seeing how much liquid food coloring I've had to use in the past, I'm inclined to try the powder because it seems to be better in terms of color affect and cost.  However, how will the powder food coloring affect taste?  Can the powder coloring be mixed to make different colors/shades?  I've read that powder coloring can stain so would this mean the colors are more likely to bleed compared to liquid coloring, especially in a high humidity environment?  Anyone have experience with the pros and cons of using these two types of coloring?

I may not be the best one to answer, but I do work with both depending on my need.  Powder food colors seem to be a tad more difficult in that it takes more stirring or kneading to blend it all in and I sometimes have to use quite a bit to achieve the color I want.  I have not experienced any problems with the taste. And Yes Red Velvet requires a lot of color.  And yes I do mix the colors to get another color, as blue and red to get purple.  HTH

Thank you.  I think I'll buy one or two bottles of powder to try them out.  If nothing else, I guess I can use them for when I need to paint details on figurines.