Hi everyone,

First off this website is amazing and I love all the support everyone gives each other. I am making my friends birthday cake and have been practicing with fondant. I made my own fondant out of marshmallows and it is very yummy. The only problem I have is that I am making a red dice cake and it took a lot of coloring to achieve this. When I finally put the fondant on cake it started to crack and slide off the cake. How do I get the color with out using so much color and how do I prevent it from cracking? If, any one is knowledgeable in this area I would appreciate it.
P.S. I did you Crisco to help from drying out.

Thanks,
Desperate Newbie

When I need colored fondant, I put the food coloring in while nuking the marshmallows. Doesn't take as much color. Wilton coloring takes a TON to achieve red. Try Americolor next time. Also, for cracking, just kneed more crisco in. Once MMF is made, I never add more powered sugar..always rub my hands in crisco when working with it.

Yes, red is a really hard color to achieve. I personally have given up on both red and black. I just buy the small buckets of red and black Satin Ice to use when I need these colors. I think ddaigle's suggestion about using Americolor and coloring the fondant when you mix it are probably your best bets outside of buying ready-made. Good luck

Alehman: What a great question! I was just about to ask the same thing!

I have read that a lot of you pro's buy your red and black fondant, and that sounds like a plan to me! What brands of pre-made fondant do you folks like best? I live in a fairly remote part of the world (dangit) and have only seen the Wilton brand at our local Jo-Anns. I dont think the Wilton brand comes in red or black (at least at our store). So, would it be best to order fondant online, or take the risk to make my own. Also, where do you get Americolor ?

Thanks for you help!

Wilton = NASTY Please don't put that on anything people are going to eat.

Thanks everyone for your help. I will put the color in the fondant while making the it. Great idea. Also, do you know if it's ok too refrigerate the cake with fondant over night or will it make it hard? Thanks ,so much

The only ready-made fondants I've ever used are Satin Ice red and black and FondX white, mainly because I live in Mexico and it's all I can get here. I have absolutely nothing against home-made fondant except for the fact that it is time-consuming and marshmallows are formulated differently here, so the standard recipes don't always work like they should (Michele Foster's Fondant -- MFF, not MMF -- is the one I like the best, but it's not made from marshmallows). Some people do refrigerate fondant cakes, but when you take them out of the fridge, they become drenched in the condensation and take a long time to dry. In the hot and humid tropical climate I live in, they don't dry at all, so I just avoid using any fillings, etc., that can spoil and leave them out till they're served. HTH

I would definitely buy it, not try to make it. NOT Wilton! You don't need to refrigerate a fondant cake unless it has a perishable filling. I like to chill my cake before adding the fondant to make it easier, but afterwards, I leave it out.