powdered colors mixed with alcohol. Like everclear or or vodka, just mix til it is of painting consistency but not too runny
You dont have to use powdered colours, you can also use gel colours. I use them all the time. mixed with vodka, always vodka (its just my prefrence) . As above, dont make it too runny, if its too runny, it will be sloppy and your fondant will go soggy.
and as your painting, make sure you use a good quality brush, one where the hairs wont fall out. Also, when loading your brush with the 'paint' Dont over load it, keep it as dry as possible. Sometimes you may need to do two or 3 coats of paint before you get a really strong colour, but let each coat dry inbetween completey before the next. It takes longer, but this way you dont run risk of your fondant going gooey.
I'm so glad this question was asked as I was just wondering about what to use to paint on fondant. I'm a newbie and am very happy I found this site!
So what would the ratio be of color to vodka? Any suggestions on the amount of each to start with?
I use vodka with gel color. Just use a little at a time until you get the right consistency. If you add too much alcohol, just let it sit a bit - it will evaporate off. I find it helpful to tint the fondant a complimentary color first - I just uploaded a guitar cake where i tinted the fondant a tan color first, then painted over. this way the white won't show through.
Ya, I use all the other stuff too, I just prefer the powder most of the time but I do like the Wilton paste colors also.
You can use Lemon extract.
Most people use vodka because it evaporates much better than water, and doesn't soak in or run like water. Some use lemon juice, too.
You need to thin out the gel, or it just globs on and doesn't move like paint - and you use such a small amount, it'll take you ages to go thru even an airplane size bottle of vodka.
I use air brush color mixed with alcohol--I use everclear.
I haven't had good success with just the color alone--maybe lemon extract which has a high alcohol content could work too instead of liquor.
Lemon extract--not lemon juice.
You can use any extract, but the higher the alcohol content the quicker it evaporates off. Vodka has an average of 40% alcohol, by comaprison, Mccormick lemon extract has 34% alcohol for imitation and 84% for pure!
eta: vodka is cheaper! 
You can use any extract, but the higher the alcohol content the quicker it evaporates off. Vodka has an average of 40% alcohol, by comaprison, Mccormick lemon extract has 34% alcohol for imitation and 84% for pure!
eta: vodka is cheaper!
I've always wondered about evaporation time, thanks for clearing that up. 
You would use the same amount of liquid as you would with vodka. I tried using lemon extract once and rose water (didn't like the taste). Just load your paint brush with the colour paste then using a dropper if you want, just drop in a small amount of the liquid and mix. Keep doing that till you are happy with consistency. Just test it on a small bit of fondant.
I just did my first painted cake, with gel color and lemon extract. I experimented first on a 'test' piece of fondant until I got the right consistency and color (I mixed a couple colors), and then I applied it to the cake.
It took a while to dry, was still kind of tacky in the morning, but it came out the way I envisioned it. It's the violin cake posted in my photos.
I did find that I had to keep adding some lemon extract every once in a while, as it tended to evaporate quickly from my pallete and then the colors got kind of gloppy. I guess it helps to work fast!
.I actually took a short class on painting on cakes which I've been practicing and I'll put up pics for you to see what I'm talking about.
I use airbrush colors to paint with. You can paint with them on buttercream or fondant and you don't have to thin them down. If you want a lighter color you can also add white to it.
i hand paint on most of my cakes and i use either lustre mixed with pure alcohol that acheives your metalic or shimmery colours or for your matte/bright colours i mix powdered colour with a little vodka, you can reuse left over 'paint' again as it will dry out and back to powder so i have a colection of litttle jars to avoid wastage
When using vodka, does it leave any taste on the fondant?
nope it evaporates, but vodka barely has a taste to start with that is why we use it in the first place i use it to stick all my fonadnt to all my cakes and fondant on the fondant covered cakes etc that way it is also acting to steralise as well as stick
you can also use powders with a little canola oil...sounds weird but works beautifully!
nope it evaporates, but vodka barely has a taste to start with that is why we use it in the first place i use it to stick all my fonadnt to all my cakes and fondant on the fondant covered cakes etc
that way it is also acting to steralise as well as stick
I have never had any experience with vodka, haha. So I didn't even know it didn't have a taste! I'm still not too sure if that's what is best for me, haha. Do extracts work just as well?
I just painted a bunch of fondant gourds for a fall cake I need to drop off tomorrow afternoon. I used gel paste colors and clear vanilla. Is there anything I can do to make sure the pieces will be dry by tomorrow? This was a last-minute cake, so I couldn't paint the fondant until tonight.
Thanks in advance!
Kristin
yes you can use esxtracts also but they have more alcohol than vodka content if that is your concern and also they wiill leave the taste i know people use lemon extract but it definately leaves the lemon flavour
I tried using pure almond extract once with the gel colors. It looked like watercolor paints that kids use. It was just a quick experiment on some scrap MMF I had. I plan on trying again.
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