I use a lot of black fondant for accent pieces on my cakes. I was buying Satin Ice at my local cake supply for $20 for 2lbs. Then the Duff came out at Michael's which is basically the same price but I get to use the coupon. Sadly, I didn't like the workability of the Duff. The first use was fine but slightly older fondant went really crumbly and dry on me. So I had resigned myself back to the Satin Ice expense until I had a revelation.

I was at my Michael's the other other day and they had a 1.5lb box of Wilton Chocolate fondant. The chocolate fondant is already brown so I thought, I could use it as a base to make black. It was around $8 but with my 40% off coupon it was around $5. I brought it home, portioned out about 1/2 of it, added a couple of sqeezes of Americolor Super Black, kneaded away and let it rest for a few hours so the color would darken true. It was perfect! I had a great workable black fondant that didn't cost me $10 per pound. I would probably go with the Satin Ice for a covering an entire cake (especially if it was a white cake) since the chocolate flavor is pretty evident in the chocolate fondant.
Anyway, just wanted to pass this along for people who spend a fortune on black fondant like me. FYI, they had several other colors available in the 24 oz boxes.

Great idea!! But what about people that do not like chocolate?? I guess we will still be buying the vanilla pre colored stuff for them! (DH HATES chocolate)

Since I only used it for accent pieces I don't think anyone would have noticed the chocolate taste.
You can see the cake here. http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2166585

It was used for the topper, lettering and the bar codes along the bottom. If it was going to be significant then sadly I'd have to buy the expensive stuff for people who don't like chocolate.

And I think it's funny your DH hates chocolate...mine doesn't eat sweets and everyone thinks that's crazy since I'm a baker.

Thanks for info!

I just did this for a Shadow cake I made for my nephew. I find that most people don't even eat the fondant so the flavor doesn't matter. The black turned out fantastic with Wilton black, I don't have Americolor yet.

I found a post in a blog on http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/2010/11/recipe-red-marshmallow-fondant-mmf.html

It works with all colors. I tired this last night and it turned out really well. I am making an Incredible Hulk cake for my nephew's birthday.

SarahB52, I love SugarsSweetCakes tutorials. I have not tried it with the MMF but you bet I will. Black candy melts are pretty season and available around Halloween and then they disappear but I stocked up and will use them for modeling chocolate or black fondant. I plan on using her techniques for any other color fondant I need though

From what I see the method works really well. You can always order the Black candy melts off of the Wilton website in the off season.

Sarah, Have you seen the black candy melts on Wilton's site off season? I read here on CC that you can't find them online off season. I haven't needed them in the past but I did find them on clearance so I stocked up. That said you can always find Merkens online which is another option.

This is the first year that I have purchased them. I would assume that being a Wilton product you should be able to get them in the off season.

AWESOME!!! Thanks for the post!!