Learn everything there is to know about how to color fondant with gel colors. Follow these tips and tricks and avoid making little cake decorating mistakes.
Today, I am sharing with you all my tips are tricks on "how to color fondant."
As I continue baking and cake decorating, I am LEARNING new things.
And nothing makes me happier than SHARING my knowledge with YOU.
So, I have decided to do even MORE "how to" posts, especially for BEGINNERS.
For instance... how to frost a cake, how to color fondant e.t.c.
If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know either in the comments or through email.
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Anyways, today's post is focusing on "How to color fondant."
But first, let's briefly talk about fondant.
There are many DIFFERENT brands out there. You can use WHATEVER fondant you like.
But, I normally use marshmallow fondant (MMF) which I make at home.
My recipe is full-proof and tastes GREAT. It's also cheap and easy to make.
Here are some TIPS on how to color fondant:
- When coloring fondant, you should ALWAYS use gel colors.
- DON'T ever use liquid coloring to color fondant. They make your fondant very sticky and insanely difficult to work with.
- Gel colors can be found in the cake decorating aisles at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. You can even order them online from cake decorating sites such as Wilton.
- People think gel colors are pricey. They are actually quite CHEAP... about 2-3 dollars per bottle.
- There are many different brands of gel colors out there. The two brands I use are Wilton and Americolor. Americolor gels are a few cents more expensive than Wilton gels. Americolor gel colors also seem deeper/brighter than Wilton's get colors.
- Gel colors are available in a HUGE range of shades. You can also mix different gel colors to create your own unique shades.
- Gel colors are CONCENTRATED which means a little goes a LONG way. Your bottles will last you a very long time.
- Along with fondant, gel colors can ALSO be used to color gum paste and frostings/buttercream icings.
- Gel colors CANNOT be used to color candy melts or melted chocolate. You need to buy special oil based colors for that.
- I highly recommend wearing disposable GLOVES when coloring fondant, especially if you are making red or blue or any other dark shade. These colors will STAIN your nails and fingers and it takes quite a few washings to get rid of them.
- If your work area gets stained, just wiping with a wet cloth does NOT work well. However, these stains can easily be cleaned with some sort of a cleaning spray. I use Clorox sprays.
- Finally, if you are planning on making a large quantity of the same colored fondant, it's better to just add color when you are making marshmallow fondant. You will already be kneading and mixing the marshmallows and sugar. So, you might as well add color too...just so you don't have to do it later.
The steps for coloring fondant are fairly simple.
This is what you need to do:
Step 1:
Rub your work surface with some shortening.
Bring out your marshmallow fondant.
Knead it a little coz the warmth of your hands will make it more pliable.
Dip a toothpick in your bottle of color and rub it onto your ball of fondant.
Step 2:
Now, use your hands to knead the color thoroughly into the fondant.
It might get sticky. If that happens, rub some shortening on your hands and continue mixing.
Step 3:
Once the color is fully mixed into the fondant, you may feel it's not deep enough.
If that's the case, dip your toothpick in the bottle of color again and mix in more color and knead the fondant until you have the shade you want.
Step 4:
Use your colored fondant immediately or let it sit for a day or two so that the shade becomes deeper.
Fondant dries really quickly. When you are not using it, make sure to wrap it tightly in saran wrap and keep it at room temperature.
And you are done!
Use your colored fondant to cut cut out cool shapes and decorate your cakes and cupcakes.
Hope you found this "How to color fondant tutorial" helpful and if you have any suggestions for my next "how to" post, leave a comment or send an email.
Tata my lovelies!
Grace
If you are not olanning on using the fondont right away, can you freeze it? How can you store it?
Abeer Rizvi
I have never frozen fondant. I don't recommend it since I don't think it freezes well. You can wrap it in saran wrap tightly and place it in a ziploc bag at room temperature, away from humidity in a cabinet.
Patti
Nice post. One thing to keep in mind. When coloring anything that is not going to be baked with gel color (it can also be used to color cookie dough and cake batter, etc.) it is important to color your icing, fondant, gum paste... whatever you are using in advance of when you want to use it. The color will deepen after a period of time. If you think you have the color you want, let it set for an hour or so, or overnight, then check the color again. And, make sure the color enough of to do your entire project -- it is very hard-- nearly impossible to exactly match a color if you run out. If you are using a type of liquid-gel, you can count how many drop of color you use and record this number, to duplicate a color, if using a jar and dipping a toothpick, there is no exact amount on a dip of a tooth pick.
Abeer Rizvi
Great tips Patti! Thanks for sharing!
Abeer Rizvi
Thanks for your feedback!
Michelle
Hello! Thanks so much for your tutorials! I've never made a cake with fondant, but am going to attempt to make one for my son's first birthday in April. My question is, how far in advance can you make / colour the fondant before using it without the taste and texture being affected? Also, you mentioned adding the colour to the fondant as you make it. At what step would you add the colour? Thanks in advance!
Abeer Rizvi
You can make and color the fondant a few days or even a few weeks before you are about to use it but don't use fondant older than 1 month.
If you are just making one color of fondant, you can add the gel color into the melted marshmallows, just before you start adding the powdered sugar.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Heidi
Can you tell me how to get christmas red and royal blue on fondant I can never seem to get it right..
Abeer Rizvi
Red fondant is a bit of a pain. You have to use a huge amount of coloring to get the color and that affects the flavor of the fondant. Same issue with making black fondant too. So, I have started buying both of those now. But, making royal blue fondant is pretty easy if you use Americolor royal blue gel coloring and very little black gel coloring. Hope this helps
Doreen
Brilliant tutorial, thank you! Can you tell me how to get a pearl effect on fondant please?
Hello from France
Abeer Rizvi
Hi Doreen! I am so happy this tutorial was helpful. For the pearl effect, I just use white fondant and use an edible spray at the end. They creates a subtle shine.
Chandra
How do I make skin colored fondant?
Abeer Rizvi
Everyone does it differently. I start with white fondant and add a combination of red, brown and yellow gel coloring. Some people just use a bit of copper coloring and no other color.
jean blasdell
i make skin colour with peach or paprika sugarflair gel colours.
louriecel rina
if i color my fondant to black, will i let it sit first to deepen the color? how long will i sit for me to get the color i want? im planning to have my fondant with colors green and black on sunday. thanks
Abeer Rizvi
Black and red are one of those colors that take very long to deepen and it's just better to buy them. However, if you only need a small quantity of black fondant, start with brown fondant and then keep adding black gel coloring until you end up with a very dark shade of grey fondant. Let it sit for at least a week and it will become black. Hope this helps!
Wildaomaris
Hi! I recently had my first baby and Im looking forward to do his first cake. I use before fondant but its hot in PR and it gets sticky. What fondant you think I should use the marshmallow one or the regular. Is theirs any tip you can give to avoid the effect of humidity? Thanks!!!!!
Abeer Rizvi
Congrats on your baby! Fondant tends to get sticky in humidity, regardless of what type of fondant you use... homemade or store-bought! You can, however, make fondant more manageable by rolling out fondant on cornstarch instead of powdered sugar. Also, I highly recommend decorating the cake in an air conditioned kitchen so it doesn't start sweating! Let me know if you need to know anything else
Talia
Hi!
I love this website- so helpful, thank you!
I know you shouldn't keep MMF in the fridge after it is made, but I know you said that MMF that was placed on a cake should not sit out for more than 6 hours... if I want to put my MMF on a cake for Sunday night on Saturday night or Sunday morning, can the cake (with MMF) go in the fridge?
Abeer Rizvi
It's nice to hear you are finding my postings helpful.
A few cake makers have a separate fridge where the temperature is set up very close to room temperature (around 60-65 degrees). This way, when the cake is removed from the fridge, there is not much condensation and no mess at all.
That could be something you can do to prevent your cakes from going bad and still maintain its freshness.