Why Is My Gumpaste Getting Ligher?
Sugar Work By aprilspring11 Updated 26 Jun 2017 , 1:07am by aprilspring11
Hi, all, first post here from years of gleaning wisdom in lurk mode. I am making my son's wedding cake and will be using gumpaste flowers. The flowers are to be navy and I am having a horrible time getting them to the right color. I had made some gumpaste using a navy gel, the more I added the greener it got, not to mention the mess. I ordered some of the chromadust powder from GSA, made a batch of paste using the CK gumpaste mix. Got the color perfect, let it mature, made flowers....then they faded, more a dark cornflower. The mix I used does not list any of the ingredients that affect the color, so I don't know why they are fading.
I just made a second batch of gumpaste, doubled the amount of powder and am waiting for it to mature. In the meantime, I added more powder to the previous batch, instead of getting darker, it is getting lighter. Any suggestions, I live in a rural area, I have most the ingredients for making the paste from scratch, but not a lot of money and time to keep trying other things. Also, the wedding is outdoors in the middle of July (evening though). I've been told there will be an air-conditioned tent, but this is Missouri and I don't trust it to be humidity free. :-) or that cool.
TIA
Most every blue color will fade, both as it dries and if it's exposed to sunlight--it's the nature of the beast.
Some people have suggested that adding a teaspoon of baking soda to a pound of gum paste will greatly slow the fade.
You're right to try starting with a dark paste. Drying should take place in as dark a place as possible, and the final application and fully decorated cake should be kept out of direct light.
HTH
Unfortunately, food colors, especially dark colors, are not very stable. I would suggest you store your flowers somewhere dark, but not in a sealed container like Tuperware. Another thing I've learned when making a dark blue is to add a touch of black. It intensifies the color without having to add as much color.
I don't know about navy blue, but to prevent purple from fading to a light blue, the addition of a touch of baking soda is helpful, about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda added to approximately 1/2 cup of gum paste. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for the help, I will try your suggestions.
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