I am making my sisters birthday cake for this Saturday and would be open to any suggestions on how to color the fondant red. Has anyone ever air brushed fondant before. Results? I am trying to steer away from having to color the whole damn batch of fondant since it's going to be a red velvet cake (what can I say, she's obsessed with the color ) and thought I might airbrush instead. By the way, can you imagine what everyone's mouth is going to look like afterwards? HAAAA!

Add some colour to the fondant ... get a good pink, then airbrush it! I do this all the time (there are several red cakes in my gallery)

By tinting the fondant a bit first, you'll use less airbrush colour too (thin spots don't show as much!)

Thanks MelC! Do you use actual airbrush color or something else? I was thinking about mixing a powder red with lemmon extract. Also, does it stay somewhat wet or does it dry out completely?

I made a small amount of red fondant before and it worked out great. The color was vibrant red. You can see it in my photos on the elmo and christmas cake.

I just kept adding red till I got close to what I wanted and it developed the rest of the way on its own.

If you're putting it through an airbrush, it MUST be aairbrush colours... anything else will just clog up your airbrush.

It will dry completely as long as you don't overdo it.

If you're using Americolor, you can get a much stronger red when mixed in, but I prefer to airbrush since all I have on hand is Wilton colours and my airbrush colours.

Would it be stupid to add the color in the process of making the MMF? Or is it best to knead it in afterwards?

If the whole batch can be that one color, add it in after you melt the marshmallows before you add the sugar. It is sooooooo much easier.

Allright!!! Such wonderful suggestions from all of you!! Thanks a million! . And now for dilema #2. I want to have a really tasty filling for both these cakes (Oh yeah its a 2 tier. OK, so I admit I love my big sis . The flavors are red velvet and chocolate. The problem is most of the outside work is going to be fondant so it can't be refrigerated, but I wanted something like vanilla bean meringue buttercream or a coffee pastry cream. Plain old buttercream sounds so boring. Thanks Again!

Hi, SweetAsLemmons,

Since red velvet cake is a cocoa-flavoured cake, you could use the same flavour filling for both tiers. However, for the sake of æsthetics, I would recommend a mocha or cappucino filling for the chocolate tier. For the red velvet tier, a vanilla or almond filling would work (I'm partial to almonds, myself). Either one can be made white, which is customarily the colour frosting used for red velvet cakes.

Good Luck!

David

for the red velvet, I would do an amaretto cream cheese filling (have arecipe if ya need it). For the chocolate, I agree that a mocha filling would be best. Maybe even a peppermint mocha...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Another idea on your red fondant issue would be to buy some fondant that is already red. I believe Satin Ice carries red fondant...and the taste of Satin Ice is pretty good. If you have time to order it...it might be worth it.

Also...I have read on other posts that FondX brand fondant can be put in the refrigerator...if they have red you could use any filling you wanted to. Good luck and I am sure your sis will love the cake!

Ok ladies, the !@#$ has hit the fan now! I made a batch of MMF and added the red at the marshmallow melting stage (like Misdawn suggested) and have a bit of a problem. The fondant has the appearence of PlayDough (you know when you kinda pull it, it tears?) It has no elasticity. I thought it was too dry so I added a little more water but it got very sticky. Then I added some powdered sugar and it looked the same. I'm wondering whether its the color I added or something. Ive never had this problem with white fondant. How do I fix it? I mean, it looks dry but its soft. I'm covering these cakes tomorrow and do NOT want to go buy WILTON fondant. There is no other place I can get Satin Ice tomorrow. Oh yeah by the way, Merry Christmas you guys!!

P.S. Whoever came up with the phrase "piece of cake" really didn't have a clue!!!

I usually need my color in after I have mixed the powdered sugar and melted marshmallows together...are you marshmallows older? I have a problem with MMF when my marshmallows are not fresh from the store.

If you ever need a deep red again check this out on Earlene Moore's cake site.. http://www.earlenescakes.com/store/colors.html
scroll down to the bottom, it's the last item on the page, it's red liquid paste...she used it to make this cake
http://www.earlenescakes.com/wedimages/Redroses.jpg

..try working in a little bit of crisco.

I've also heard you can add a little piping gel to get back some of the moisture and elasticity.