November 22, 2020

BASIC EDIBLE PAINTING TIPS

Drop the fear! If I can do it, you sure can too 😀! I kid you not! You don’t need any artistic skill or special grace to create simple, edible, and realistic paintings on your cakes or cake board.

If you are interested in learning more about EDIBLE ARTS, then sign up for my online BEGINNER’S DECORATING COURSE by chatting with me using any of the social media links (All online courses runs only on TELEGRAM). If you are in Lagos, Nigeria and needs an on-sight/physical class, feel free to chat me up too for my MENTORING PROGRAM OR SANDWICH classes.

No long talks, let me share some of my basic painting tips. Do remember to watch the video EDIBLE PAINTING PRACTICAL SESSION to see a practical edible painting session.

WORKABLE TIPS:

You have to decide first whether you want to paint directly unto a cake, or on a cake board. If you want to paint on a cake, first cover your cake with fondant. Allow the fondant dry out for few hours or overnight.

When rolling out your fondant use corn flour to roll out NOT VEGETABLE SHORTENING or any greasy item as grease will soil your painting. The corn flour will also help your fondant dry out more. If you’re painting on a board, the same rule of leaving your board covered with fondant to rest till dry applies. You can use gumpaste (this dries out faster) to cover your board but not for cakes. The reason we leave the fondant to dry out is to prevent the colours from smearing into the fondant.

Next get a picture of what you want to draw. This is very important as it serves as a guide.

Get good artistic paint brushes with good tips (bristles/hair) that are not removing strands. This can be gotten from cake stores or bookshop or painter’s store. Artistic paint brush usually comes with different tips/bristles. I use the thinner tip (that looks like a pencil tip) to sketch, draw out lines, or create intricate drawings while the flat tips are for shading and making bigger painting.

I make use of edible paste colours when painting. You can use edible powdered colours which are less expensive. But I prefer paste colours as this makes my painting vibrant.

To make the edible colours into edible paints, make use of clear vodka. You can also use lemon juice or water. The advantage of using clear vodka or any clear alcohol over others is that the paints dries faster and they do not smear into one another. Also clear alcohol won’t leave any funny smell. If you use lemon juice to dilute your colours, it will leave a lemon smell at the end of painting. While water won’t dry out on time and you will need to wait between intervals to do the next painting.

You would need a clean soft foam to clean any mistake created while painting. You simply dip an edge of the foam in water, squeeze out and clean, then repeat till mistake is cleaned. It’s as simple as that. Then leave that part to dry before painting on it again. You can also use a foam to paint. Yes you heard that right. I did use a foam to do some painting on this standing figure 4 cake and this sky/sea board painting.

You also need a kitchen napkin. This will be used to dry off water from the tip of your brushes after washing them if you want to change to another colour.

You can put on disposable gloves when painting so you don’t have paints all over your hands. I don’t wear gloves when painting as it makes my hands sweaty and itchy and I feel disgusted, so I just wash off almost immediately if I have paints on my hands.

You can make your painting on your board and transfer to your cake. How? Roll out the fondant to the size you want (remember the size of your cake to be used too), then place on the board. Do not stick the fondant to the board (if you do, you will find it difficult to remove later)as you will still remove it. Then do your drawing and painting few hours or overnight so your paint dries well. Then transfer your painting to a freshly covered cake (I made mention of fresh, ‘cos you want the dried fondant with your painting to stick to your freshly covered cake well).

We usually start painting on a white canvas (surface/background) so that the background colour won’t interfere with what ever you are about to achieve.

Always paint using your brush tip (that edge). Also use little colours at a time. Too much colour will smear your painting. If you accidentally applied too much color to your painting, thin out with water or clear vodka. (What I mean is dip your brush tip slightly in water or clear vodka and brush over the color to spread it out).

If your paint dries out while working, add extra clear vodka/lemon juice/water to reactivate it (Reactivate? Is that even the word? 😂😂 Whatever! 🤣) )

Start with a sketch. This is very important. Now if you really can’t get some shape well, one trick that has worked for me is, to place the picture of what I want to create on my board or cake and using an edible maker sketch out, then remove the picture and use my brush to trace. 😊 This trick is actually good for painting at the beginning. If you have done some paintings before on the board/cake, don’t try this ‘cos the printed picture will smear the previous painting and you would just have to start all over.

Sketch with a brown color. Brown colours are easier to wipe off in my opinion. It’s also my base colour for painting. I start with it and end with it.

Don’t skip colour yellow. Yellow colour brings life to your painting. So always add a blend of little yellow to your painting where necessary. If you’re painting fruits, yellow creates a ripened effect. For leaves, yellow mixed with little brown creates a rustic effect.

I hardly use black to paint. Why? I discovered black colours are very dominating. A little edible black colour will dominate other colours no matter how small it is. So I stick to brown or chocolate brown.

Always start with a lighter shade of your paint when painting, and then blend with darker shades as you work.

Your brush movement/stroke is very important. I do an up-down stroke for most of my paintings not left-right. Also maintain the stroke you started with. Don’t start with a up-down stroke and change to left-right.