I am making an outer space cake for my son's birthday. I want it to be black. I am not picky about whether it be covered in fondant or buttercream. I have dyed buttercream black on several occassions but only enough to accent a cake, never to cover. I am not thrilled with the idea of how much dye it would take to do the entire batch. Any ideas? The best I've come up with so far is buying premade black fondant, only because I'm not sure how to get my own fondant a true black. Do you think that's the best way to go? Or any tips on dying my own buttercream black without ruining the flavor or dying my own fondant? Also, which brands of fondant would you recommend? The only storebought fondant I've used is Wilton and that was a long time ago. Since then I've been making my own.

Buy the premade , it isn't worth the aggravation of trying to do it yourself.

SATIN ICE...best fondant out there. I mix it with a little bit of wilton to help elasticity issues and it's perfect. you could buy premade black fondant but that would cost more. Invest in some Americolor and you will never have troubles

don't shop around...other places may SAY they have the best price in fondant but after extreme shipping fees it is the same as this place http://www.countrykitchensa.com/ and they have extremely fast shipping...especially since you are in IN

When I did my sons Harley Davidson cake for his birthday, I used a chocolate fondant and died it black. I used wilton black food coloring and worked perfectly! I had no problems.

Premade black fondant

I have done black buttercream starting with chocolate icing and then very little black coloring is needed. I have done black fondant and started with Satin Ice dark chocolate fondant. That is so dark you almost need no coloring and it takes like tootsie roll candy. Very yummy!

I use chocolate fondant, and add black candy melts as well as the black coloring. The candy melts really help the color and make it taste yummy too! And you don't need nearly as much color that way...in fact, the first time I made it, I added more color than I needed - since then I've only needed to add a very little bit after the candy melts!

It's especially easy now that black candy melts are available year round - though we are getting close to the season they would normally be available. Last year I bought nearly every bag I came across before Halloween!

If you airbrush your buttercream black, it takes very little coloring.

Thanks for all of the ideas! I make MFF, any input on how to make it chocolate? Do I just add in melted chocolate prior to adding the powdered sugar? About how much do you add?