Red and black... really?

If you are a follower of my blog, you will know by now that I strongly dislike decorating with red or black food coloring. So, as an option, whenever possible, I use the following techniques:

(1) I use Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa to make black. I love this stuff! If you add enough cocoa to your buttercream or fondant, it REALLY does look black. Sometimes I add a small amount of light corn syrup to make it the consistency that I am looking for. 

(2) Whenever possible, I try to airbrush red pieces, especially flowers, instead of coloring the icing/fondant. That way I am using less color than I would otherwise. 

Satin Ice also makes a really really good dark chocolate fondant that resembles black. If you are not a fondant lover, this will change your mind. I guarantee it.

Something just tells me that because you have to use so much red or black food coloring to get a good intense color that it can't possibly be good for you. Sometimes the "end" result may not be good either. I will not go into detail about that last comment, but I have stories I could tell. 

Here are some cakes that I've done with red and black coloring using these techniques...

Airbrushed roses and dark chocolate lace

Airbrushed red fondant

Airbrushed red gumpaste

Airbrushed gumpaste musical notes and treble clef

Dark chocolate spider webbing

Dark chocolate borders made with Satin Ice dark chocolate fondant and blue silicone mold

Dark chocolate poured fondant

Dark chocolate fondant flowers

Dark chocolate fondant/gumpaste ribbon

Dark chocolate buttercream scrollwork on fondant

Dark chocolate buttercream piping on whipped cream...yes, the bead border is actually piped buttercream

Dark Chocolate Buttercream on Whipped Cream

I designed a cake this weekend with simple, yet elegant decorations done with dark chocolate (to look like black). I didn't know how it would hold up on the whipped cream icing, but it did just fine. It is always a trial to set up a cake iced in whipped cream, as the whipped cream tends to be very unforgiving. The icing goes on very smooth and looks wonderful, but if any repair work is needed after the cake has set for awhile, it is very hard to make it look good, and it is almost certain that some touch up work will be needed somewhere.  That's when flowers, etc. come in nicely. . . or you can also make certain the touched up part is at least not in the front of the cake. The flavor of this cake was dark chocolate mint with chocolate mint mousse filling.