Any thoughts on this? I don't work with fondant a lot at all. I need to do zebra stripes on buttercream. (12" round) Is it worth it to buy premade SI? I am worried that if I make it, it will taste horrible b/c of the black dye...Any advice??
TIA!!!

To me personally, I would just buy the premade black SI...it's worth it because you don't need to mix in the colors...and keep guessing how much to put in. It's less aggravation on that part.

I always purchase black fondant, less work and less aggravation, not to mention a better taste. It seems I can never get a true black with the coloring.

Buy it, absolutely. You can purchase SI in a 2# bucket. It looks great, tastes like vanilla. Making black or red fondant is a complete PITA.

Made it once. Total disaster. I will never try to make black again as long as I live. I also feel the same way about red. Always buy it.

Buy it. Perfect texture every time.

Always buy it. No mess trying to color it yourself and no yucky taste from all of the dye.

I agree with all the other posts. I make MMF for everything except black and red, I purchase satin ice. I tried black and red once with the MMF and it was so hard to work with because of all the coloring I had to add. It was sticky and dry at the same time if that makes any sense!

That's what I was figuring, but it's always reassuring to have some back-up here on CC from all the experts!!! THANKS!!!

And remember that it keeps for a good long time, so seal it up tight and you will always have some on hand. I have been using small bits of black to tone down bright colours, so it is good for that too!

I compleatley agree with everyone else, black and red need ALOT of colouring and effort. i can never get it the shade i want so i buy mine now, although other colours are far easier to do! x

I always use ready-made black and red RF. It's just not worth my time to knead in those colors myself.

Thanks so much!!

Just curious, does it make it any easier if you start with chocolate fondant and add black coloring?

Absolutely I always use chocolate fondant to make black. You just need to make it ahead of time so it won't be sticky. Like 1 or 2 days before you need it.

Me too.I have attempted to make black 2 times . I do always start with chocolate then add purple a dash of red and tons of black. But it does look good after but it is a PITA

Buy it! I made black MMF a couple of weeks ago for a cake and it was a PITA to work with. Good thing the cake was for a family member, otherwise I woud have gone to the cake store a purchased black SI.

Never again will it make black or red - I get the colors right, but the texture is always wrong!

BUY it!!!! It makes life soooo much easier.

Since you need just a little -buy pre-made but I used to feel the same way about black and red fondant until I tried mixing the colour first into the liquid (glucose and gelatine) before adding powdered sugar and found it much easier than trying to knead it in to already made fondant.Now I can make as much dark coloured fondant black, red,brown, purple, bottle green etc as I want without the sticky results . HTH.

I agree with everyone else, buy it, I have the black Satin Ice and it is really good to work with, now the red is another story, I find it cracks, but buy the black, will save you alot of headaches of trying to make your own and even though I find the red Satin Ice cracks rather buy the red too.

Made it twice and I can not stress how much it is SOOOOOOOO not worth your time. I would not hesitate for one second to buy it, definitely worth the investment!

Hey I was in line with all of you too about buying my black and red from SI but I just recently learned from MacsMom to color the fondant with powdered food coloring (not the usual paste)...what a big duh for me!! Try that and see if you change your thoughts like I did.

I agree, the black satin ice is nice for convenience. I like to mix it with about 1/4 dark modeling chocolate to make it even nicer to work with. It still stays a very true black. Also, I made chocolate fondant with black/very dark dutch processed cocoa powder in excess of what the recipe called for and it came out super dark. It would have gone black easily if I had added any food coloring. I had to tone it down to get the chocolate color I was looking for. So, this might be an option of you need a lot and don't want to purchase pre-made for a large cake.