Food Coloring for Cake Decorating | A Beginner's Guide
Chef Alan TetreaultIn this tutorial: Choosing Colors with the Color Wheel · Getting a Deep Red · Getting a Jet Black · Freeze-Thaw Safety & Painting · Airbrushing with Gold Shimmer · Airbrushing with Super Pearl · What You'll Need
Whether mixing a perfect Christmas red or airbrushing a gold shimmer finish, getting great color in cake decorating starts with understanding the products and techniques available. In this beginner-friendly tutorial, Chef Alan Tetreault of Global Sugar Art walks through his gel food coloring and airbrush color lines – covering everything from color wheel basics to the one simple trick for achieving deep, vivid reds and blacks.
What You'll Need
- Gel food coloring – available in 3/4 oz, 2 oz, and 10.5 oz bottles
- Airbrush food coloring – available in 3/4 oz and 2 oz bottles
- Airbrush kit – includes airbrush gun and compressor
- Buttercream icing – for mixing gel colors
- Fondant – for kneading in color or airbrushing over
- Disposable gloves – to prevent staining hands when coloring fondant
- Paintbrush – for painting techniques with gel color
- Edible alcohol (vodka or gin) – for thinning gel color into a paint
Choosing Colors with the Color Wheel
Before mixing a single drop of food coloring, Chef Alan recommends studying color wheel harmonies. A basic color wheel helps decorators choose color schemes that work well together on a finished cake. Two key approaches:
- Analogous colors – choose colors that sit next to each other on the wheel for a harmonious, blended look.
- Triadic colors – choose three colors equally spaced around the wheel for a vibrant, balanced palette.
💡 Tip: Global Sugar Art's website features several color wheel charts with explanations of each harmony type – a valuable reference when planning a cake's color scheme.
Getting a Deep Red
One of the most common questions Chef Alan receives is how to achieve a truly deep red in buttercream. His answer is surprisingly simple – make it ahead of time.
Chef Alan starts by adding a few drops of Super Red gel color into buttercream and mixing. The initial result is noticeably red but not the deep, vivid shade most decorators want. The secret is oxidation: cover the colored icing and let it sit overnight. The color deepens dramatically as it is exposed to air.
💡 Tip: When Chef Alan owned a retail bakery, he would mix two or three gallon pails of red buttercream 3–4 days before Valentine's Day or Christmas, letting the color deepen over time so a rich red was always ready to go.
⚠️ Always start with less color than you think you need. You can add more, but you can't take it out.
This overnight deepening technique works for any color that needs extra intensity – navy blue, forest green, or any deep shade.
Getting a Jet Black
Black food coloring can be tricky, and Chef Alan is candid about the development process – the original black in his color line was reformulated after customer feedback. The result is what he considers the best black food coloring on the market.
To color fondant black, Chef Alan recommends wearing gloves, since gel colors will stain hands. He kneads Super Black gel color into a piece of fondant for about a minute and achieves a very dark black while the fondant maintains a firm, workable consistency.
💡 Tip: Black doesn't need to sit as long as red or other colors to reach full depth.
Freeze-Thaw Safety & Painting
Chef Alan highlights two additional features of his gel color line:
Freeze-thaw safe – Cakes decorated with these gel colors can be frozen or refrigerated. When removed, any condensation droplets that form on the surface will not cause the color to run. This is not the case with all food colorings.
Painting on cakes – Mix a small amount of gel color with edible alcohol (vodka or gin) and use a paintbrush to paint directly onto the side of a fondant-covered cake for detailed decorative effects.
Airbrushing with Gold Shimmer
Chef Alan demonstrates basic airbrushing technique using Soft Gold Shimmer airbrush color on a fondant-covered cake. He uses an airbrush kit imported from England that includes the airbrush gun and a small compressor with three speed settings.
Key airbrushing technique:
- Set the compressor to high speed.
- Hold the airbrush 5–6 inches from the cake surface.
- Pull the trigger back only about halfway.
- Apply very light coats – the color will barely show on the first pass.
- Let each coat dry for 1–2 minutes before applying the next.
- Build up coverage gradually over 3 or more coats.
⚠️ Don't try to achieve full coverage on the first coat. Applying too much at once causes runs and drips.
The result is a beautiful, clean coat with a subtle shimmer finish. The airbrush color line includes both flat colors and shimmer varieties – silvers, golds, oranges, tangerines, and more.
Airbrushing with Super Pearl
For decorators who want a pearlized finish without using powdered pearl dust and a brush, Chef Alan demonstrates the Super Pearl airbrush color. Since it contains no pigment color, the difference is subtle – a soft, pearlized shine over the white fondant.
Chef Alan compares the sprayed side to the unsprayed side: the untreated fondant has its usual flat, matte appearance, while the airbrushed side has a gentle luminous sheen. The finish is less brilliant than powder pearl dust, but it has two practical advantages:
- It won't transfer onto hands when touched.
- It won't shed onto lower tiers or nearby decorations.
Gel Color Bottle Sizes at a Glance
| Size | Cap Style | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| 3/4 oz | Flip cap, drop-at-a-time dispensing | Home decorators, small batches |
| 2 oz | Screw cap | Regular use, moderate batches |
| 10.5 oz | Screw cap | High-volume or bakery use |
Consistent Gel Viscosity
One detail Chef Alan emphasizes about his gel color line is consistency across every color. Many competing brands have gels that vary in thickness – some require hard squeezing while others spray out. Global Sugar Art's gel colors are formulated so that every color dispenses at the same rate, making it easy to control how much color is added regardless of the shade.
This tutorial is part of Global Sugar Art's library of free cake decorating videos by Chef Alan Tetreault. Browse all tutorials →
