I have recently painted leopard print onto a cake using black food gel and vodka but it didn't seem to dry (very messy when stacking it).  Can anyone tell me the best way to paint with black onto a cake.

Thanks

I recently needed to paint a gingham pattern onto a cake, and tried various techniques.  I tried airbrushing (messy, edges not sharp, over spray, etc, mixed gel colors with water, and vodka, better, but still took a long time to dry, and inconsistent color intensity.  The best was to color royal icing  and thin to the desired consistency (try it on scrap fondant first).  It doesn't run, spreads more evenly, and dries quickly.  It worked very well.  It is inflexible and will crack if flexed after drying, so apply to finished fondant.  I used an edible marking pen to outline before painting.  HTH