I was planning on using gel food color thinned with alcohol on modeling chocolate figurines. Has anyone done this? Worried about how it will affect the modeling chocolate. Is there another medium better for coloring rather than having to mix color into the dough? THANKS!
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Hi, GINAbread House, Congrats on making your first post. I look forward to many more to come!
Hey, yes, I know a number of cake decorators who paint successfully with thinned gels. Sometimes weird things can happen, as chocolate and water don't mix (most gel colorings are water-based), and sometimes water-based colors and alcohol don't mix, but modeling chocolate is a different animal than pure chocolate and a little more forgiving. You can also airbrush modeling chocolate. Alcohol-based airbrush colorings are better than water-based ones if you are going for really saturated colors, but I airbrush smaller, less saturated pieces with water-based colorings all the time.
I don’t have any personal experience with this, but I’ve heard you can use cocoa butter paint on modeling chocolate. Here’s a video I found from Sugar Geek Show.
Definitely can use cocoa butter, tinted with oil-based colorings or powders (not water-based or it will seize), but probably the most expensive way to go.
