**Mixing Colors with Gel Fondant**

When it comes to creating custom colors with gel fondant, having the right mixture of colors can make all the difference. In this article, we'll explore how to mix different colors together using just five basic gel colors: black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and red.

**The Basics of Mixing Colors**

To start mixing colors, it's essential to understand that adding more or less of a color will affect the final result. If you don't add enough of a color, you'll end up with a greyish hue instead of the desired black color. The best approach is to start with a small amount and gradually add more until you achieve the desired shade. This way, you can avoid over-mixing and ending up with an unwanted color.

For example, if you want to create a deep black color, you'll need to use a combination of black, cyan, and red. If you don't add enough black, the mixture will turn grey. Similarly, adding too much black will result in a darker shade than intended. By starting with a small amount of each color, you can fine-tune your mix to achieve the perfect black.

**Mixing Gel Colors**

To create other colors, you'll need to mix different combinations of gel colors together. For instance, mixing two parts of yellow and one part of cyan will produce a bright green color. If you want a more yellowish tint, simply add another part of yellow to the mixture.

On the other hand, if you combine one part of pink (magenta) with two parts of cyan, you'll get a deep purple color. However, mixing red with cyan will not produce purple; instead, you'll end up with a grey-brown color. This is why it's crucial to use pink or magenta as the base color when creating purple hues.

**Mixing Colors for Specific Shades**

When it comes to specific shades, such as brown, orange, or skin tone, the process is slightly different. To create a brown color, you'll need to mix two parts of yellow with one part of pink and half a part of cyan. This will result in a warm, earthy shade.

For orange, start by mixing two parts of yellow with one part of pink. You can then add more yellow if you prefer a brighter or more vibrant shade. To create a skin tone color, mix equal parts of pink, yellow, and a tiny bit of cyan. This will produce a natural-looking shade that resembles human skin.

**Creating Custom Colors**

With these basic mixing techniques, you can create custom colors using just five gel colors. The key is to experiment and fine-tune your mixes until you achieve the desired hue.

By following this guide, you'll be able to mix a wide range of colors using gel fondant. Whether you're creating cakes, cupcakes, or other decorative items, having a solid understanding of color mixing will help you achieve professional-looking results.

**Tips and Tricks**

In addition to mastering basic color mixing techniques, here are some extra tips and tricks to keep in mind:

* When mixing colors, it's essential to use the right ratio of each color. Adding too much or too little of a color can affect the final result.

* If you're unsure about the color you need, start with a small amount of each color and gradually add more until you achieve the desired shade.

* Experimenting with different combinations of colors will help you develop your own signature colors.

* Remember to always use powdered food coloring if you want to create subtle shades or add shading to your fondant.

**Resources**

For those who want to dive deeper into the world of gel fondant, here are some additional resources:

* How-to Cook That: A comprehensive guide to cooking and decorating with fondant.

* 70 Russian Piping Tips: A must-have resource for any cake decorator or piping enthusiast.

* Crazy Chocolate Balloon Bowls: Watch as we create stunning balloon bowls using chocolate and gel fondant.

* Winnie the Pooh Cake: Get inspiration from our adorable Winnie the Pooh cake, complete with handmade decorations.

Whether you're a seasoned cake decorator or just starting out, mastering color mixing techniques is essential for creating beautiful, professional-looking results. With these tips and tricks, you'll be well on your way to becoming a gel fondant expert!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to how to cook that I'm Ann Reardonand today I'm going to show you how to make bright colors out of fondant, how to make black andhow to make every color you'll ever need from only buying 5Gel colors, you don't need to go out and buy all of themI have a hundred grams of fondant or three and a half ounces hereso to start with we're going to color this red and we're going to add justone drop of red and then a bit more and then a bit more so that you can see how muchColoring you need to get bright colors. Now, this fondant is really hard because it's cold here at the momentSo to make it softer and easier to mix I'm gonna put it in the microwave for just fiveSeconds only. No more for this small amount or you'll end up with it completely liquidthe first thing I do when I'm going to color fondant is wash my hands really well andDry them and then spray on some spray cooking oilThis is just canola oil and rubbing it on your hands means the fondant won't stick to your skinIt also means if you do get any food color on you, it comes off a lot easierNow firstly I'll show you what one drop of red - 100 grams or three and a half ounces of fondantTurns out like. Add the color to the very center and then fold it over and seal it all the way around the edgesFold it over again and keep folding it until you can just see the color is about to break through thereNow if it does break through it's going to go on your fingers. It's going to go on the counterso at this stageI like to get a plastic food bag and put it insideAnd then massage it really well, this helps to not get too much color on your hands, which is importantEspecially if you're about to film a videoSo that's why I like to put it in the bags like this and keep mixing until you can't see any more colourSticking to the bag once it's all on the fondant and there's no liquid on the bagThen it's okay to take it out and massage it through the fondant just using the palms of your hands to get that color reallyEvenly mixed through and as you can see mixing takes a whileSo knowing how much color to add in the first place will help you not waste your timeMixing and then adding a little bit more and mixing again adding a bit more and mixing againNow you can see here adding one drop is not going to make your fondant red. It's a pale pinky colorNow to our next load of fondant, I'm going to add half a ml of colorNow, I'm using a medicine measuring here to get this accurate and you're gonna add it to the center of the fondantJust like we did before and againI'm using a hundred grams or three and a half ouncesSo you can scale up these amounts of coloring according to how much fondant you needWhen I'm adding more color like this instead of just folding it overI like to mix it in with a fork first and that just seems to make it mix in fasterIt kind of makes a paste of the fondant color rather than it just being the gel which just bursts outeverywhere and it's just harder to mix it in fold it over get everything off your fork and then youDefinitely just need to put this in a bag straight awayunless you want your hands to be colored a different color and then keep mixing it andsqueezing it and mixing it until no color is sticking on to the inside of the bag and then you can take it out andMassage it between your handsNow you can see that it's given us a deeper colorIf you add a few more drops at this stageIt will make no difference if you want to have an impact on the colorYou're going to have to double the amount of color. That's right. Not just a few more dropsSo this time I'm going to add one mlTo a hundred grams or three and a half ounces of fondant so you can see what that looks likeSo one mil double of what we did before mix it around with your forkFold it over put it in the bag massage it it's so much easier in fast-forwardYou keep your hands and your counter clean, and then finally give it a good massageAnd now you can see we have red fondantSo we started with a hundred grams or three and a half ounces of fondant each timePlus gel food coloring and we're comparing one drop versus half a ml versus one mlSo there is your comparison one drop gives you a pale pinky colorHalf a mil you're getting a reddish colorBut it's still a little bit pale1 ml per a hundred grams is going to give you that bright deep colorSo that's about a quarter of a teaspoonfor those of you who are not familiar with mls a quarter of a teaspoon is1.25 mls so that will give you about this colorHalf of that will give you this color and one drop will give you the pale oneThe next thing to consider is what brand of colorings should you buy there are so many todayI'm going to compare four of them. There's Wilton that one's really well-knownThis is Progel, Chefmaster and then Artisannow for each of these pink gel food colorsYou take a hundred grams of fondant and add one mil of food coloring and mix them in and the results you get areRemarkably different one to the otherSo you can see there if you're after a really brightpink you're going to need to go for the Progel or the Wilton. The Chefmaster and the Artisan areCompletely different shade no matter how much you add you're not going to get that bright pink colorThe other weird thing I've noticed with pinkcoloring is that it tends to fade in the light. So to test these brandsI'm wrapping one end in foil to protect it from the light and then we'll leave that for a couple of hours to see ifThey fade or notYou don't want to spend hoursdecorating a cake andcovering it and then you end up at the end of the day with it being a different color to what it was when youmixed the fondantTwo hours later if we unwrap them the artisan oneYou can see there is quite a difference between this tone and that one so it's definitely fadedJust over two hours and that's quite a big difference in two hours. If we look at the Chefmaster one, that is also fadedProgel that color is actually pretty steadyIt's slightly less but not really noticeable. And then finally the Wilton oneThere's a very slight difference but it's not really noticeableI have had Wilton pink that came in their color-right set fadeReally badly before but the colors that are in the pots seem to be more stableI haven't noticed this problem with any other colors so far just with pinkLet me know if you've had any colors fade on you. Now before we move on from pinkLots of people have asked me can I use liquid food coloring instead of gel food coloring?So for this I've added one ml of the Queen rose pink liquid coloring to a hundred grams of fondant. And yesIt works fine to color it pink but you can see it's not as intense as the gel coloring wasAlso, it can make the fondant a bit stickySo with this one, I added a teaspoon of extra icing sugar to stop it sticking everywhereSo, yes, you can use the liquid colorYou'll just need to use more of it to get a brighter color and too much liquid will make your fondant sticky but to fixThat you just need to add more icing sugar to your fondantNow to make black fondant lots of people struggle with this one againIt's the amount that you need to addyou just need to add one ml of black gel food coloring per 100 grams or three and a half ounces of fondant andMix it in how I showed you if you don't add enough you'll end up with grey and not blackso most people just start adding a little bit and they add more and more and more and more and you're mixing and mixing andMixing and if you just add the right amount at the beginning, it'll be a lot less frustratingNow for all your other colors, you only need five colors of gel coloring to get everythingSo you'll need black and for that I used artisan midnight blackmagenta or a deep pink and I used the pro gel pink for that aBright yellow, I made that using artisan sunshine yellow againit's 1 ml per 100 grams or 3 and a half ounces for all of these andCyan which I made using artisan Azure blueNow we can mix those together to make every other color except for red. So you'll need to buy red as wellLet's mix some colors. Now. If you have two parts of yellow and you add one part of cyan you get this nicebright green colorIt's really nice and fresh there if you want more of a yellowy greenThen just add two parts yellow to a quarter part of cyan and mix mix mixYou know that mixing takes the longest and you have a nice Caterpillar green thereIf you mix two parts of pink and one of cyan together, what do you think? You'll get IHope you said purple because you get a really deep purpleIf you want a lighter purple, you can just add white to lighten that down the important thing to know hereIs that mixing pink with cyan makes purple, but if you mix red with cyan, you won't get purpleI'll leave that one there and show you what I mean. If we have one cyan with two Reds. Here we goLet's mix them together mix mix mix. What do you think? We're gonna get you can probably see thereWe are not getting purplewe're getting like a dirty grey brownie color and that's why you need your pink or your magenta color as your base andNot redJust like in your printer you start with cyan magenta yellow and black to make all of the colors to make orangetake two yellows and one pink and mix them around together mix mix mix andboom a nice clean bright orangeSo what if you want brown well for that you'll need two parts yellow one pink and half a cyan and don't worryI am going to write all of this down for you as a chart on how to cook that.netWith drops and teaspoons. So if you start with white fondantHow many drops of cyan how many drops of yellow will you need to add to make these colors?What do you get if you mix two say in with one yellow?quickly think of your predictions before it mixesYes, you get a nice aqua greenI hope you got that one right - and what if I wanted more of like my skin tone color?There are so many different skin tones, but I'm gonna try and make my skin tone for thatWe're gonna need some pink some yellow and a teeny bit of cyan and mix those togetherNow it's too darkSo I'm going to add some white to make it paler and a bit more white and that gives me a pretty good baseColor that looks pretty similar to my skin color if we just used some powdered food coloring to add some shadingThat would be pretty spot-onSo with just the five gel colors cyan pink black yellow and redYou can make every color that you need. You don't need to buy lots of other colorsAll of these ones are just made mixing those gel colors together. There's no other food coloring hereSo I'll put a chart on the howtocookthat.net websitefor you that tells you exactly how many drops or teaspoons of each color you need to add to make each of these colors andRemember if you don't like the taste of fondantYou can also add clear essences to flavor it so peppermint essence and lemon essenceWork really Well fondant just tastes really sweetif you imagine eating any of your lollies your M&Ms any of that candy withoutFlavoring it would just taste really sweet and you wouldn't like itAnd if you add a flavoring to it, it will be goodbut they don't add flavoring to it before you buy it because it might not go with your cake flavor so you canDepending what flavor cake you do flavor your fondant to go with itI hope that helps you in your cake decorating endeavorsClick here to go to my channel herefor 70 Russian piping tips here for crazy chocolate balloon bowls and here for my Winnie the pooh cakeMake it a great week and I'll see you on Friday*upbeat music*\n"