Can anyone tell me what I should use if I wanted to paint a design onto a fondant covered cake using a stencil??
I know some people have said they used gel paste colours, but I don't know if that is straight out of the jar, or if it has to be diluted. . .does it run. . .how much to dilute. . .dilute with water. . .?????????

I've never done this before, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

i dilute it with vodka just enough to make it the consistency of watercolor paint you can also use lemon juice.

You could also use dusing powders or chalks mixed with a little clear alcohol like vodka. Haven't tried it myself but I hear that it works.

To get smooth flowing paint, lemon extract works best. The oil in it stops the color from streaking. Keep in mind that the "glob" of color that you mix with the extract (not juice--too much water in it and it will make the fondant sticky) or alcohol will often not fully dissolve. This isn't a problem, just mix it as best you can an make sure that as you apply the color you've avoided the clumps.

Rae

Hey! I'm glad I read this post! I just asked a similar question before browsing the forum. I'll have to try with the extract and see how it works out.

I don't taste anything if I eat the painted fondant, but I don't know about others. It has a nice smell while you're painting, but I only smell the cake and icing when I cut it and eat it.

Also, other extracts don't have as much alcohol in them, so they are much less effective. The key is high alcohol content AND an oil component that promotes streak free painting.

This method is used by Colette Peters and many of her cakes are completely painted with luster dusts.

Truth be told, apparently most people don't eat much of the fondant anyway.

Rae

I made a treasure chest cake with gold fondant accents and I mixed the luster dust with raspberry extract (because it was the only thing I had and frankly I don't normally care too much for fondant anyhow) and let me tell you, there was definitely a raspberry flavor, but meshed with the fact that the cake was done with a chocoalte buttercream........mmmmmmmmmm boy.......it was sooo yummy!!!!!! I will have to try the lemon though, for times when I don't want any flavor.....I have heard of people using Everclear??? Which I assume, but don't know for a fact ...is a pure alcohol....I will have to look for that, lemon extract I know I can find.

Great! Thanks for all the replies.

A few questions:
Is that regular lemon extract that you get in the grocery store, or do you mean the Lorann oil kind??

Also, could I just use clear vanilla instead so the flavour won't be so different??

Thanks

Yes, you want to use the regular lemon extract from the grocery store. The Lorann oils are much too expensive and concentrated for this use.

The reason for the lemon extract is that it is the extract with the greatest amount of alcohol in it--about 84%--so it gives you the best of both worlds: quick drying because of the alcohol content but just enough oil to keep the paint flowing evenly (less clumping & streaking). Clear or natural vanilla extract has around 35% alcohol and often has water and/or corn syrup added to it. Tthis defeats the purpose of having something that will not soften the fondant or buttercream.

Straight alcohol dries very, very quickly and that gives you less time to work and finesse.

Rae