can you use food colouring to colour ready roll icing

jewlls

Hi,
its my daughters birthday in two weeks time, and have seen a cake on the internet which i would like to make.
I am not good at making cakes but would like to give this a try.
My question is can you use food colouring to colour ready roll icing.
I will be buying a shop bought cake and decorating it myself. Would buttercream icing be better or apricot jam to cover cake before applying the icing?
I will be making an icing bow out of the icing, how long will does the icing last before it goes funny as i need to pactice how to make it, how do i store.
Thank you for your replys

ilovepugs

Hi, you may get a better response, if you post , in the homemade cakes thread.:j

lisa26_2

you can colour it but not with the liquid colours you get in the supermarket, they'll make it too soft and aren't concentrated enough to give a good colour. You just knead some of the desired colour in until you get a smooth even colour. Use a little cornflour or icing sugar (i prefer conrflour) on your hands to stop it getting stuck to them. Most/all cake decorating shops sell paste colours and I think hobby craft does to. You can also buy ready coloured sugar paste from most sugar craft shops, this is a much easier option if you have somewhere near you that does.

To cover the cakes you should use a VERY thin coat of buttercream, apricot jam is only usually used when applying marzipan to fruit cakes.

The sugarpaste will keep for MONTHS if loked after properly. Keep any you arent using tightly wrapped in cling film. I usually use 2 layers, make sure you eliminate any air. Then keep it in an air tight container such as a tupperware tub or lunch box.

Once you've made your decorations or covered your cake DON'T put them in tupperware or in the fridge, both will cause the icing to go damp and sticky and ruin the finish. Sugarcraft shops sell cardboard cake boxes in loads of different sizes, they're dead cheap and can be used a few times.

lisa26_2

Just realised I kept referring to 'sugarpaste' that's the 'proper' name for ready to roll icing! Didn't want to confuse you.

Also, if you decide to go for white icing and colour it yourself I'd still recommend getting it from a sugar craft shop if you can. i personally find the supermarket own ones horrible to work with.

If you want an online optionto order from I would recommend http://www.almondart.com/ I use them loads (not affliliated with them in any way!) and the service is brilliant and prices are about what you should expect to pay.

jewlls

Hi,
I have decided to get the coloured icing from the cake shop, the other way seems to much like hard work. Lol

cathye555

Hi, my mum's always made my birthday cakes and our xmas cakes and she buys the pre-coloured ready roll icing and uses a value apricot jam. the icing does start to slide off the cake after a few days, but tbh theres not usuually much left by then!! x