I have been wanting to try airbrushing for a while now and my husband bought me one for our anniversary!! I've only used it once and before then I had never used an airbrush on cakes. I decorated a birthday cake for my cousin and airbrushed it in a camo print. It turned out great. The next day it was speckled. I'm not sure what may have caused it. I didn't get the airbrush too close. One thing I did do, which I seen mixed opinions on, was use the Wilton food color gels and diluted it with clear vanilla extract. I have since bough the Americolor food coloring because I've read it works better. I've not tried it yet. I guess my questions are. Why did the buttercream speckle? and also would it be better to dilute with something alcohol based or water?

I've had it speckle/bead up when I tried to airbrush a refrigerated cake (something to do with the grease coming up to the top.) What I do now is airbrush it after I've iced and smoothed it, and haven't had a problem, although I've only used the Americolor colors.

I agree with Shirley, it only seems to happen to me when I airbrush a cake that has sat in the fridge for more that a couple hours. Ive always though the condensation had something to do with it? Not sure though....

You should only use airbrush colors in your airbrush. Gel food color has fibers in it that will not only clog your brush, but cause speckling. I use Amerimist by Americolor. You can use pearl dusts, petal dusts, luster dust (no hologram or pixie dusts) diluted with vodka. But gel colors are a no-no.