Hello!

I'm not a professional baker or anything like that, I'm self taught and enjoy baking at home for my family. I'm happy with my various sponge recipes and now I want to work on my decorating skills.

I've brought some cutters for fondant icing and I'd like advice on decorating them. I plan on buying very thin brushes and I've seen icing paint on amazon, can these be used straight onto icing? Or do they need mixing with a liquid?

I was looking on other forums and I've seen that with some icing paints, people mix the colour with vodka or clear vanilla or lemon extract.

Any hints anyone could give me would be very gratefully received and any links and recommendations. I'm in the UK if that helps!

AHello ZippyZGirl!

Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy it here and learn a lot! I have.

There are several ways to paint onto fondant, you can go wild! - And yes, in order to paint, it is good to thin the gel colors with either water, vodka (evaporates easy), or extracts. Vanilla would have to be a clear one, so it doesn't alter your color. Depending on the brand, a tiny dab of gel can go a long way.

If you type "Painting on Fondant" on the search bar up on the right, you will find plenty of threads that have addressed this subject. Also, are you familiar with Craftsy? They have plenty of paid classes, but they also have a few free ones, among those there is one about hand painting on fondant.

http://www.craftsy.com/class/the-hand-painted-cake/180?_ct=sbqii-sqjuweho-qbb&_ctp=180,2

Regards, Cin

As I say to newbies introducing themselves on PIPORG-L (and occasionally also to newbies introducing themselves on Fountain Pen Network),

Welcome to the squirrel-cage, and look out for the nuts.

Seriously, you'll find a mix of professionals and amateurs on here, with every possible skill level, from those who make their living creating elaborate wedding cakes, to those of us who mainly bake single-layer sheet cakes, 9x13 and smaller, served in-pan. You'll find people who can do the most elaborate piping, cake sculptors, fondant mavens, and ordinary civilians.

Oh, and remember: disco dust is plastic, and plastic is (as Alton Brown might put it) not good eats.