hi all. . . i've been trying to paint fondant for the longest n just can't seem to get it right. i tried food coloring n water, food coloring n vodka, food coloring n lemon juice, n luster dust with all of the above. i tried small and not so small amounts of water/liquid n it's always runny. i've even tried melting different color candy melts to use as paint.

've seen people on tv paint cakes like u would paint on canvas, n the 'paint' is very opaque n goes on easily. is this another kind of edible paint? i just can't seem to get it right. do u have any idea what i am doing wrong?

i would appreciate any help. i've been having to pipe frosting in different colors when it would be easier to just 'paint' n this is killing my hand ths next day .
thanks for any input.

I will only suggest using alcohol or extracts to dillute food gel and dusts. The runny problem you get is having too much liquid added. Sometimes it takes as little as a drop to get the right consitency. Try using a dropper to add alcohol.

I have only painted one cake - it's the leopard cake in my pictures. I read on CC somewhere to dip your brush in a tiny bit of gel colour and then dip the brush very lightly into the vodka and then paint. It gives a bit of a water colour effect but I found that method worked very well for me. Oh, I used the candy melt tray that Wilton sells for the colours and vodka - worked nicely.

I think you can also use the Americolor airbrush food coloring straight from the container without having to dilute it.

Depending on what I'm painting would depend on if I added liquid (Vodka) to my food color paste or not.

If I want a dark color I don't add any liquid at all.
If I want a lighter color that I can build on I would add a very very, very, small drop of vodka to my food color paste.

Tam

If it's runny, you are definitely using too much liquid. Never water. Vodka or my favorite lemon extract. Lemon extract can be 85-90% alcohol, which dries very very quickly. Use a small dish of gel or luster dust and as others suggest, use a dropper to add your vodka or extract. Just a drop or 2. You will find the alcohol might evaporate and you will need to continue to add a drops as you paint. Good luck

I found that it takes a large amount of gel color to the amount of vodka. I then use a different brush to mix the colors together and wait about 3-4 minutes for the color to sort of settle into the vodka.

Best of luck!!

probably what you have seen them using that was opaque was coco butter. You can get it in all types of colors or color it yourself using oil based colors for chocolate. It is very similar to oil paint in consistency.

probably what you have seen them using that was opaque was coco butter. You can get it in all types of colors or color it yourself using oil based colors for chocolate. It is very similar to oil paint in consistency.

I've completely stopped painting using alcohol or lemon juice and have switched to mixing my colours with melted white fat (I'm assuming similar to Crisco). It's much like using cocoa butter and gives a lovely paint texture that is easy to use.

I always use clear Wilton vanilla because I have it on hand.

I think it helps to think of the vanilla as something to thin out the gel colors with. You really aren't trying to mix the two together and make paint. If you do that it won't work.

I always take a little glob of gel food coloring and put it on a white ceramic dinner plate. The I put a few drops of vanilla on the other side of the plate. I dip my brush in the vanilla and then kind of pull a little bit of the coloring away from the glob. I try that on a scrap piece of fondant and if it is too thick then I can dip in the vanilla again and thin it a bit more.

Another piece of advice, try to make sure that your first coat is thick enough to be your final product. I find it really hard to go back over something again to make it darker. It seems like the paint that has already dried seems to dissolve when I paint back over it.

I hope that helps. Keep at it, you will get it!

I've used lots of different mediums for painting depending on what I wanna do.

I think everclear is the best alcohol I've ever used but all the others work ok too.

If the color is running I would think you are applying too much paint.

Painting thougths for you.

i am using edible airbrush colors, without adding anything. If I dont have these i mix gel with water and powder sygar to paintable consustency. It dries fast too.

hey guys,thank u all for ur replies!! i'm sorry it took me so long to say thanks, but i was expecting to get an email notification of any responses (i clicked the box to notify me). when i didn't get emails, i figured no one had responded, but decided to check anyway.

in any case, thanks so much. i realize i must have been adding too much liquid!! i was using a candy cavity of water with a little food coloring, lol. i feel dumb, now. duh, it was just too much liquid! lol. i'll try less liquid, n also the liquid fat to see how that works.

was just asked to make a bud light can cake so now have a new question. . . if anyone has made one, is it hard to put fondant on sideways?? i've never done tat before, but since i am making the can upright, i will have to either roll the cake in the fondant on its side or try to put the fondant on the side while it's standing. it'll be a few layers of round cake too, so i am little worried if it'll be smooth or if it'll have indentations where the layers meet. is there a good way to avoid this?
again, thanks for all ur help. this forum is a treasure!

You can roll the fondant just like a tape and simply unroll it when you start covering (staning up position).

I use Vanilla Vodka with Americolor colors, it leaves a lovely smell when dry. If I need silver or gold, I just use my Americolor airbrush color straight out of the bottle and it works great!

Hi Bnnie151, I'm replying to a posh you did many years ago, hope you're still here, or maybe someone else can answer, 

When hand painting straight with airbrush colors alone, it starts to make my fondant sticky, is this from the water in it and I can never get a nice solid coverage of say gold or silver, it's very thin. Another question, when you mix the paint with crisco (vegetable oil) does it make the color come out smeary because of th oil?

thank you

Jewel