Hello,

My sister wants a leopard print pattern on her birthay cake which is hto pink fondant. I wanted to know what the best way to get the pattern on there. I saw the edible textas and i thought if i got a black one i could draw it on, but then someone told me she used one of those and it didn't come out very well and suggested painting with black food colouring and a paintbrush or making a stencil and spraying with black spray?

What does everyone think? Does the black food colouring have to be mixed with anything before it can be painted on? and does it take long to dry?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

THANKS

You could paint with black food coloring and a little vodka or lemon extract.

I usually take a little saucer plate and dab a toothpick into the black food coloring gel. Get a decent amount on the toothpick, you'll need it.

Then I take a little dropper filled with vodka, and put one drop on the plate, away from my toothpick w/ gel.

I dip my paint brush in the vodka and then go pick up a little of the gel. Then I go to another clean spot on the saucer and sort of roll the paint brush gently, leaning it sideways to work the gel and vodka into a mixture that looks thinned but yet still black.

Sometimes, at least the wilton brand does, the gel paste will sort of separate in terms of its color and you'll see green instead of black. If that happens, I just start a new little patch and go a little heavier with the gel. If too much vodka gets mixed with it - it tends to separate.

I hope that helps. I've used this lots of times on many of my cakes with handpainted art.

Feel free to ask if you need more help or clarification on this.

Try using air brush color instead of gel color - it dries really quickly. Gel color never really dries even if you mix it with Vodka. I used that when I painted a leopard print onto a baby stroller plaque. It was still tacky 2 days later.

The print itself was easy to do. Paint irregular brown spots surrounded on 2, 3, or 4 sides (vary it) with a little outline of black. There are many examples on here of some very well done leopard prints. Just do a search for "leopard" and a bunch should come up.

thanks for your help ladies!

Cakes by Carla: I am having a practise run so i will give that a go and if i have any questions i'll ask! Thanks

Bonnell: do you have an airbrush or is it the colour spray in a can? I'm just wondering how i would make the stencil to spray it on?

Thanks

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1868797

This cake was recently posted. I saved it in my favorites. It looked pretty easy to do.



Painting on fondant with food gels is as easy as painting with water colors!

Good Luck!

Gels? By itself? Or do you add the lemon juice, etc.?

Same as the posters above posted. You can thin with pure extract or vodka.

Hope this helps!

If you are going to paint, use vodka (my first choice) or a good clear extract, I use clear vanilla or almond, lemon will work too. Just be careful to not get the areas you are painting too wet...using black, it would be awful if it blend or ran. Another option would be to cut your patterns out with an exacto knife in black fondant and then just put them on the pink. I do alot of animal print, and this is the fastest way for me. I use a steamer on the surface to be adhered to and then just lay the pieces to be stuck to it on it. If you don't have a steamer, you can very very lightly brush the back of each piece with water and then stick it to the pink base color.
I think the best advice I can give you is to NOT STRESS over it, just relax and enjoy yourself.

Good Luck