I was watching Sugar Rush the other night (it was a re-run) and it featured Margaret Braun. Some of you may be familiar with her work and her book, 'Cakewalk'.

Anyway, she paints her fondant after she applies the fondant to her cakes. The food coloring she was using didn't look like any food coloring I have seen. It actaully looked like real paint. It didn't look like a gel like Wilton's or Americolor. And she was using it directly from the jar. Wouldn't the food coloring be to concentrated and leave people with painted lips and tongues after eating the cake/fondant?

Any ideas? Thougths?

I'm not sure what Margaret Braun was using (I hope someone else can answer) but I got advice from a cake supply store owner to paint a cake black instead of trying to color the fondant. I followed her suggestion to use gel color (Wilton or Americolor) and mix it with a little vegetable oil. Then I painted it on with a sponge brush. The color and oil didn't mix well at first, but once they were painted onto the fondant they blended fine. And I didn't notice any stained teeth or lips at the party.

See the Steelers cake in my photos.

I saw that too!!! ....And I was wondering that exact same thing! Her paint seemed kind opaque and not gel-like. That cake was gorgeous!!!

I've had trouble getting the paint to go on evenly when I paint on fondant. It always seems like the fondant kind of melts underneath. I use vodka to thin and have had no problems with dusts, just gels.

Courtney

I emailed Margaret Braun....hopefully she will respond.

I'd be interested in her response. I was looking at that book the other day and wondering the same thing. Looked like she had diluted some gel color, but it was hard to tell. I liked the look she got though. Will look forward to hearing what she says.

well, I still have not received a response from Ms. Braun

Thanks for e mailing her. Hopefully she will respond!

Courtney

I was just looking in Mich Turner's book "Spectacular Cakes" and she paints on cakes using cocoa butter melted with dry (powdered) food colors. She has several cakes done with this technique and they're very beautiful.

Still no answer?? I'd really love to know! I would paint fondant much more often if it would go on like hers does!

I am interested in her response (M.Braun's)as well.

I probably used half color, half oil, though I just eyeballed it. The color didn't really blend with the oil in my bowl. But using a sponge brush, once it was on the fondant, it blended really well. It took a second or third swipe over each area to coat it well. The store owner I spoke with said it works great for fine brush work, too, but I didn't try it. If I were you, I would try it on a small piece of fondant first to see how it works.

I didn't notice any black lips or teeth at the event. But, then again, we were consuming plenty of alcohol!

I just made some fondant/gumpaste seashells and I painted them with Kroma Kolors (airbrushing colors) They dried really nice and mixed with other colors to get the color I wanted really well. Worked just like paint. I also mixed in some luster and pearl dust and it worked great.

I've used gel colors mixed with vodka on several of my cakes and they worked out fine. The only one that I have trouble with is the white that it separates. I painted the fish on my mermaid cake and the logos on my beer cake. For the small details I use it straight from the jar.

I was wondering about just using airbrush colors straight. I've used gels/vodka a bunch of times and it goes on evenly at first but then gets kind of spotted after it sits for a few minutes. I've had much better luck with dusts mixed with vodka.

Courtney

still no response from Ms. Braun....but I just remembered that my co-worker did something to my email so I would stop getting junk emails but it also blocks emails from other people.

I wonder if that is what happend?

I like the idea of using cocoa butter....I'll try that.

holy cow! Cocoa butter is exspensive! Or maybe I am just cheap

I found 4 oz jar from $5.50 - $11.25. I wish I knew how much it takes to paint a cake.

I just e mailed her too just in case. I bet they are getting millions of e mails after the airing of Sugar Rush though!

I don't have Cakewalk yet....I'm thinking I might need to buy it!

Good...mabye you'll get a response!!

I also found pre-tinted cocoa butter.....$18.75 ( I think ) for a bottle but I can't remember size of bottle.

I've also heard that you can buy cocoa butter at the pharmacy. They sell it in the skin care aisle and it needs to be labeled 100% pure cocoa butter.

-C

I looked in Margaret Braun's book Cakewalk and she has a page on painting fondant cakes with food coloring. Obviously I can't put copyrighted information here but on page 87 of the book she has a bunch of thoughts on working with food coloring.

Specifically, she says that liquid food color is good for painting but that she recommmends gel, paste and powders only for coloring icings. She also says to leave airbrush coloring for t-shirts and vans!

She didn't mention any specific brands but one photo shows a bottle with the brand name Queen Natural Cochineal Colouring. A quick search shows this available in Australia.

She also mentions a few vendors in the appendix, mostly the usual suspects like Beryl's Cake Decorating Equipment and Pfeil and Holing.

I'm going to make one of her cakes next month for a friend's wedding. I plan to do a practice run later this month so if you're interested I'll keep you posted on what supplies I get.

HTH.

Crazy Cake Lady

Thanks for the info...........I really do need to buy her book!

Please let us know about your practice cake...love to see it and learn a few more tips, too.

I caved and ordered it,....along with Cakes to Dream On b/c I can only take it out of the library so many times!!

-C

Squires (UK) sell a range of food paints called 'Folk Art' and they are specifically for painting on cakes - they are an opaque colour, a lot like acrylic paints. They wouldn't be good for covering huge flat areas - but great for painting with.
http://www.squires-shop.com/cgi-bin/TLSstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=C06901

I personally paint on cakes a lot. I mix paste colour with lustre dust and alchohol.