Can anyone tell me how to color my fondant red and black? I am brand new to fondant, and made some mmf to do an alternating ball border on my daughter's basketball team's end-of-season cake. Their colors are red and black. I have the Wilton gel colors in christmas red, red-red, and black. I think the black will be easier than the red. Any tips at all on either color would be much appreciated!!

For the black I color my fondant like brown...as brown as you can get it, then add the black. Add as much as is needed to get black. Now for red, you have to color it until. I used the no taste red then put the red-red since it has a taste that people dont like. So, if you make it like a dark pink then add the red it should be ok. Red tends to need to sit a little bit so the color can soak through and get more red.

Yeah, do it early and let it sit overnight to deepen the color. Your black will be dark grey at first, but it will deepen, so will the red.

You might want to at least coat your hands with crisco to keep the staining down, OR wear vinyl gloves, OR put the fondant in a plastic bag when you initially add color.

Also keep a bit of bleach around for the color that will always get on your countertop.

first off you will need a good bit of the wilton paste. I have found that Americolor the gel colors work the best for coloring fondant, especially the hard colors like black and red. Black you have to watch because it can get a purple look to it..I found this most with the wilton coloring. ALso red gets really sticky from the paste. So I too recommend gloves. Also letting it set is a good idea. I have decided that even though it is a little pricey that buying black satin ice saves so much time. Good luck.!

I have achieved perfect shades of black and red using only wilton gel colors. I used the red-red for red, and regular black for black.

Because I used the Wilton ultra white boxed fondant, I kneaded in a substancial (but not impossible!) amount of color. Just make sure you have gloves so as not to stain the hands.

With these colors, keep adding, don't be afraid. You can add as much as you like and I found that in fact the more color that was added, after it deepened as it sat, the color became truer.

Attached are examples of my fondant. Again this is Wilton white boxed fondant tinted with Wilton colors.

cupcakeco, did it change the taste?

Yes, the fondant did turn out to taste somewhat different. I likened the taste to old-fashioned black licorice, but not exactly.

With black, I think the only real way to avoid 'the taste' is to start out with a chocolate MMF, drastically lessening the amount of black gel color needed. With red, I don't know that 'the taste' can be avoided, because even with the 'no taste' red you would still have to use quite a bit.

OP: are you using the black and red for an accent, I thought I read? Something about a rope border? Not that I would dismiss the taste altogether, but if it is for something not exactly central to the cake I personally wouldn't stress to much about it.

Wow, thanks so much for all the help! Now I feel confident to try! Yes, cupcakeco, I am only using the fondant for a "ball-type border" around the bottom of the cake, so I am not going to stress too much over the taste. I am really after the correct color, though, because I want this cake to make an impression! The pics you posted of your fondant look perfect, so I am going to get as close to that as I can. Again, thanks to everyone who offered advise. It is much appreciated!!