AHa ha! Powdered food color is great for this as well. Have fun!

AJamie, random question. do you like Flickr for your online portfolio? Or are you not really using it like that. I've noticed an increasing number of people using Flickr for their cakes

A

I like it because you can upload huge file sizes, and not lose any clarity. Also, if you tag the photos, Google picks up on it and that helps when people search online for a cake decorator. I upload there, Facebook, and my webpage. It's also a quick way to link to specific photos on a forum like this, without having to go thru the Facebook albums, especially if it's not a pic I uploaded to the galleries here. I used to keep up with a lot of friends on Flickr, in fact that's where I met my first cake decorating friends! I miss browsing the groups there, haven't done that in ages. :-(

Hey folks!

Just an update. I did the wedding cake today. Bride and groom loved it! Their color was a very intense purple so it turned out a lot darker than the original, but everyone at the bakery thought it was gorgeous. They were all saying it looks like a watercolor painting. 

 

I ended up mixing up a small amount of purple (you really only need a small amount. i had a TON left over!) and the rest kept white. I iced the cake in white imbc then started with the longest part of each wave, making passes with a tiny angled spatula. When I got a few swipes, i touched my spatula tip just barely to the purple color and made a few more getting shorter every time. Near the end I put a pea sized amount of the purple on my spatula and made the last few waves. I changed the angle (down to up going to the right diagonally, then up to down going to the right diagonally) most of the time... except when I forgot to...I did less on the top, more on the middle, and the most on the bottom. Turns out no airbrushing was necessary! I'm still going to try all of the different methods we talked about on here when I get more time.

 

So, here it is:

 

AThat looks pretty cool, definitely like a palette knife painting. Glad that worked well for ya! Yeah, those colors airbrushed would have been a drippy experience, I would imagine. Can't see how it wouldn't pool up in little pockets and puddles somehow. Well I like it. Neat!

A very artistic cake.  Would go great at a museum or art gallery.  Bet you're glad it's done  :-)

Thanks, guys! I'm definitely glad it's over, lol. This is a pretty terrible cell phone picture, but the photographer was snapping pics as I was setting up so I'll be sure to post a good one when the bride sends some over. :)

Sugarpuppet,

That cake looks great!  I'm curious about how you colored the purple buttercream.  I've been *testing* some mixtures trying to match a lavender swatch from a bride who wants a textured ombre effect.  After a couple of hours, my purple (IMBC colored with wilton violet) fades to GRAY.  Not a good look. 

I love meringue based buttercreams and I HATE coloring them!!

I am considering airbrush.  

I have airbrushed on IMBC before, and yes, the color just sits on top, but it's not a "pool of liquid."  If that happens, it's operator error. Light passes, layering the color is the way to go.  

 

I was happy to find this thread, because I find myself in a similar situation.  I'd love to benefit from your recent success. :-D

 

Thanks in advance...

AHave you tried using candy colors? So far I've used pink and blue and got fairly decent shades

Thank you Morgan, I did purchase some candy colors to try, and when I mixed the red and blue I made a muddy gray.  Definitely not purple!  It turns out that in my arsenal of handed-down colors was a bottle of Chefmaster Liqua-Gel Color "NO FADE" Purple.  Who knew???  It wasn't the exact hue I needed, but it was close enough for me.  AND, as advertised, no fade, no color shift.  It was perfect.  

I read somewhere (here, probably) to *melt* the color into the buttercream, so that's what I did.  I microwaved a small amount of buttercream with a hefty dose of purple gel and got a very vibrant color that I then used to color the graduated shades for the ombre effect.  That will be how I color my IMBC in the future, for sure.  

i just use airbrush color

K8, I never thought to try that.  Do they blend into IMBC better than the gel colors?  I've had lots of problems with colors fading and shifting.  This learning curve is frustrating!

wait--i meant for air brushing i use the airbrush color and i thin it with water too if needed for a lighter shades--but for straight up coloring the smbc --i haven't made imbc in forever -- i just use the gels and maybe some powdered color--i use cocoa powder too

Ha.  Thanks!

There is a no fade purple and no fade pink - can't remember who produces it but it's wonderful.  The purple is a bit more on the pinkish side but it truly does not fade.  Wish they also made a no fade blue.