Hi,
In my first post i would like to write on food colorings and color selections one of the most important parameter that effects the visual of fondant cakes. It is extremely important to know which tones we have in house and what colors comes out of the mixtures. It is not always one color corresponding to the color demanded.
There are many food colorings available in the market : Americolor, Wilton, Rainbowdust Progel , Sugarflair, Squires Kitchen etc. In my post you can find the reviews of 2 brands i have selected. Americolor and Rainbowdust Progel.
First of all i would like to mention the packaging which i think is a very important parameter. The firts thing i like with these 2 brands are the packagings. Personally i dont like to dip a stick to take some coloring from a jar so i prefer tupe packaging. There are 2 main reasons: first it is easy to use, you don't need to use any other tool on the other hand it is more safe to use tube packaging as they protect the products better from the cross contamination which increases self-life.
Mainly i work with light shades and i like the tones of Americolor however there are really nice shades among Progels i have tried. Especially i liked some of the dark shades i achived with Progel. So it can be a good alternative for bakers working with dark shades
BLUE's:
First of all i would like to start with Blue Shades as the most frequent question i recieve from bakers is : " when i want to obtain a very light blue shade i achive a turquoise shade. The customer doesn't want any turquoise shade in blue so which tone i should pick? " First of all the main parameter is your fondant. If your fondant is yellowish it is always obvious that you will recieve a turquoise shade. I have reviewed all Americolro Blue Shades and Progel Baby Blue. Americolor Navy Blue and Progel Baby blue are both absoulte blue. They are cold and does not contain any yellowsh part inside. So they can be a good choise. Royal Blue is also a good alternative but contains a little bit turquoise shade for very sensitive eyes. Electric Blue and Sky Blue are both turquoise blue colors for their light shades.
Looking the dark shades , Royal Blue is a very nice Parlement Blue which can be used for Spiderman Cakes. Navy Blue and Progel Baby Blue's dark shades are very deep dark blue and looks like very similar.If you want to obtain a darker shade you can add some Super black to achive a dark night shade. On this point i would like to mention that i need to add more NAvy Blue to obtain the same shade. The dark shade of Electric Blue is not extremly dark but a very bright color which is perfect for children birthday cakes. But my useage of Electric Blue is more than that as it gives very bright colors when mixed with otfer colors.
The mixture of Electric Blue and Regal Purple is a super bright Parlament Blue. And the mixture of Electric Blue and Mint Green is a very bright turquoise which fits really nice to Mermaid cakes.
Americolor Royal Blue Americolor Navy Blue
Americolor Navy Blue and Regal Purple mixture applied with Airbrush. I will add a post on how to make an Airbrush color from a soft gel paste.
PURPLE's:
From the purple shades i have evaluated 2 shades of Americolor, Regal Purple and Electric Purple and Progel Purple.Regal Purple is always my favorite. The tone is exactly for Princess Sofia theme.
There is always a handicap with purple shades. When you finish your cake or cookies they are purple but after some time you find out that they turned blue. This is because of the effect of lights. The purple fades when it stays underlight. The pink shade is not resistant to UV lights so after some time the pink in the purple goes and only the blue remains. There are 2 ways to avoid. First you can avoid it to stay underlight for a long time. The second thing is that you can add some pink in your purple so the time of fading wil increase and your purple will stay stable for more time.
Electric Purple is not the shade i use frequently. It is more pinkish purple wihich fits better with Frozen theme cakes. Progel Purple is a very dark purple. I didn't like the light shade of it as it seems dull and dirty. But if you need a very dark shade you can not obtain it with Americolor so at that point you can prefer Progel.
Americolor Regal Purple
PINK's:
Americolor has a very wide range of Pink's but i have selected 2 tones that i tink that is used more. Electric Pink and Soft Pink and Progel Pink. Electric Pink is always a very popular. The light shade of Electric Pink is very sweet bright pink which can be obtained with a very little amount. Soft Pink's light shade is more pastel shade with a very little yellowish shade inside. Progel Pink's light shade is a nice pastel color as well. Dark shades of Electric Pink and Progel Pink can be used as Fushia. They are totally different shades of Fushia but both can be prefered upon customer demands. The main important thing for dark shades is Progel gives more intensive pink with smaller amount of colorant.
Americolor Soft Pink Americolor Electric Pink
GREEN's:
Americolor and Progel offers a wide range of green tones and i choose 2 from Americolor and 1 from Progel. Americolor Mint Green and Electric Green and Progel Bright Green rengini. Mint Green is my first choise as i can use its light and dark shades easily for different themes. The light shade fits very well for vintage cakes and the dark shade can be used for Christmas cake decorations. Electric Green is a more spesific color and can be used on spesific requests of customers. Progel Bright Green's light shades are very similar to Mint Green but for dark shades i couldn't obtain as dark as Mint Green.
Christmas Cake Americolor Mint Green Americolor Mint Green
dark shade light shade
YELLOW's:
I choose Americolor Egg Yellow and Lemon Yellow and Progel Yellow. Egg Yellow is a very intensive yellow which and would fit perfect for duck decorations. Americolor Lemon Yellow and Progel Yellow seem identical when i look light and dark shades. They are bright and nice. Either one can be choosen.
The new starters frequently ask which colors they need initially. First of all my choise is not to color very dark shades from a white fondant. It needs very big amount of food coloring , effort and it effects the consistency of the fondant. So i buy ready dark shades as red, black , chocolate brown and navy blue. I arrange the shades of dark blue or red with the food colorings i have. My first list would consists of :
Progel Pink
Americolor Electric Blue
Americolor Regal Purple
Americolor Mint Green
Progel Baby Blue
Progel Yellow or Americolor Lemon Yellow
Progel Red or Americolor Super Red
If you will also make modelling or hand painting:
Americolor Ivory
Amerıcolor Super Black
Americolor Bright White
I hope the post will help you to choose the right colors. See you soon...
AMERICOLOR vs PROGEL :
Same amount of fondant with same amount of colorant.
Americolor Electric Pink vs Americolor Navy Blue vs
Progel Pink Progel Baby blue
Americolor Super Red vs
Progel Red