It’s entirely possible to paint edible colors and designs onto modeling chocolate. However, modeling chocolate doesn’t perform the same as fondant or gumpaste. Because of the high fat content, it’s less absorbent. Its surface is rather slick, sometimes even oily. Here are the options for painting on modeling chocolate with tips and tricks for achieving the best possible results.

Powdered Food Coloring

Powdered colors work well for dry painting accents onto modeling chocolate. Note that modeling chocolate is the most receptive to powdered colors when it’s freshly rolled or modeled.

Right after modeling chocolate has just been handled, it’s soft from the heat of your hands, which makes it tacky so that powdered colors cling. You may use a small paint brush to add details or a blush brush to cover larger surface areas.

The modeling chocolate head featured above, which was molded first on a styrofoam ball before being transferred onto the cake, was accented with green pearl dust, pink pearl dust and cocoa powder.

Cocoa Powder

Cocoa powder makes an excellent coloring agent when you want to add contour or shading to modeling chocolate as well as to fondant and gumpaste.

Use it to make a cake decoration look dirty, sandy, antique, weathered, skin-like, hide-like, shadowy or worn. In the above example, the modeling chocolate leaves were brushed with cocoa powder to enhance the detail of their veins. In the example below, modeling chocolate fairy flowers were dry brushed to give them shadow and sheen.

When painting directly onto a cake that’s covered in modeling chocolate, it’s better to do so before the modeling chocolate sits in the refrigerator. Modeling chocolate that’s exposed to refrigerator air is likely to grow moist and sticky on the surface. Too much of this moisture interferes with painting on colors.

To keep a modeling-chocolate-covered cake dry while still holding it in the refrigerator, seal its surface under plastic wrap until it’s time to paint on the cake. Once you’ve painted the cake, don’t put plastic wrap on it again. Painted modeling chocolate is prone to smudging and should not be touched after the job is complete.

When NOT to use powdered color: When a modeling chocolate decoration sits uncovered for hours, its surface hardens and no longer absorbs powder as well. Then, paste or gel colors are a better option. Conversely, when modeling chocolate is moist, all colors are more likely to bloom, streak, and puddle. In that case, use a clean paper towel to blot away moisture.

Using Powdered Food Color as a Paste: You can mix powdered colors or luster dusts with vodka or cocoa butter to make a wet paste. When modeling chocolate is too dry to accept powdered colors or when you want the color to go on thick, this method works well. It also allows for added detail and control.

Gel and Liquid Food Coloring

Painting onto modeling chocolate with gel or liquid food coloring is feasible but not ideal. The liquids tend to bead on the surface of modeling chocolate. You may have to paint over your design a few times in order to make it crisp. For this reason, liquid food coloring is not ideal for painting on modeling chocolate. Gel colors work better but may still be a challenge. In the whiskey bottle below, I hand painted the label using titanium dioxide (natural white food coloring). The color was too liquid for working on modeling chocolate so I thickened up its consistency with a little corn starch.

Tip: To make modeling chocolate easier to paint with liquid or gel colors, dust its surface with corn starch (a.k.a. corn flour). This adds a thin layer of absorbency, making it easier for liquid colors to adhere.

Airbrush Color

Airbrushing onto modeling chocolate may also result in the liquid beading on the surface, but it can still be done. Don’t airbrush heavily – going light is the key. Follow the tip above to achieve optimal results with an airbrush machine.

Edible Markers

Edible markers are not the most compatible with modeling chocolate for the same reason that liquid colors are more difficult to apply. They also work best when the modeling chocolate is dry on the surface and dusted with cornstarch.

Sample the book

Cake Decorating with Modeling Chocolate

You might also enjoy
Marbleized Modeling Chocolate Patterns

Smooth Buttercream Cake Frosting
Piping with Paper Cones

Chocolate Cake Writing Tips

 Chocolate Glaze Recipe

VIDEO: Modeling Chocolate Kanzashi Flowers

3D Piano Cake Tutorial

Modeling Chocolate Tutorials