Looking for a fun and simple way to have fun with your kids? Try using Edible Ink Food Coloring to draw fun pictures on your treats, and let your kids use their artistic skills!
Quite a few of you have written to me to ask how I get my edible ink food coloring markers to work so well. Certain food are more difficult to draw on, but by following the tips I’ve suggested below, you’ll be able to use the edible ink markers on so many different types of food including chocolate, Pop Tarts, Airheads Taffy, Necco Wafers, marshmallows, caramel, and even cheese.
Tips to get your food coloring markers to work …
Store your markers properly.
Always store your food coloring markers upside down so the tip
doesn’t dry out.
Add food coloring to a dried out marker tip.
If you are drawing on some food and are getting streaks instead of a nice even color, you can
fill a small bowl with liquid food coloring that matches the color of your edible ink marker.
Dip the tip of your marker in the food coloring, allowing the coloring to soak up into the tip.
Then, tap the marker allowing any excess coloring to fall off the tip.
Continue to draw on your food until you get streaks again,
then repeat the process.
Refill your edible ink marker with more food coloring.
If your edible ink food coloring marker has dried out, don’t throw it away, you can refill it.
Use tweezers to get the plug out of the end of the marker.
Tip the marker over and allow the coloring insert to drop out (tap the marker if needed.)
Put the insert in a small bowl filled with food coloring.
Allow it to soak up the food coloring for at least 15 minutes.
Place the insert back into the marker.
Put the plug back in also.
Allow the edible ink marker to set with the tip side down for at least 15 minutes
in order for the new coloring to permeate the tip.
Have fun drawing on food!
My exchange student and I did indeed have fun drawing all of these things:
a monkey on caramel,
smiley faces on yellow Necco Wafers,
a bunny and a ghost on marshmallows,
“Hungry Happenings” on a watermelon Airhead,
a pumpkin on a cheese sandwich,
“Love” on some pink modeling chocolate,
and
a cup of coffee on a Pop Tart.
I hope these tips will help you, so that you can create fun food too.
Products used to make this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)
Help! I just got a last minute order for cake pops. She wants them to look like baseballs. Is there a marker that goes on chocolate? I’m not steady handed to do royal icing or choc. TIA!!
Hi Laurie,
I prefer using Americolor Food Pens but Wilton’s markers work well too. You can see that I used red food coloring markers to decorate white chocolate baseballs here – https://hungryhappenings.com/white-chocolate-baseballs-peanut-butter-fudge/
I also used them to decorate modeling chocolate covered Rice Krispie treat baseballs here – https://hungryhappenings.com/white-chocolate-baseballs-peanut-butter-fudge/
Use the tips in this tutorial and your baseballs will turn out great.
How long do the americolor markers take to dry if you use them for tracing under a cookie you are going to royal ice
I’d give the ink at least 30 minutes to dry on the surface of a cookie.
Will red or yellow show up on black royal icing??? I need to write names on them!
TIA
I do not think it will show up very well unless your royal icing is more gray than black but I’m not positive. I have not tried writing on black icing.
Very helpful – thank you!
You are welcome!!!
Hey!
thanks for the tips on storing markers. Question for you I’m hoping you can help me out with… Ive successfully made cookies with royal icing decorated with americolor gourmet markers, however as soon as i package the cookies (i use cello bags) my writing bleeds on both the bags and the cookies, any tips on preventing this?
Thanks!
HI Sarah, I had never experienced this issue, but I don’t often use food coloring markers on royal icing, so I asked my friend Meaghan from The Decorated Cookie for advice. She recommends you allow your iced cookies to dry for at least 24 hours before drawing on them with the food coloring markers. Then place a fan in front of your cookies and turn it on so that the air will circulate and help to dry the ink. All several hours of drying before packaging. If your house is humid this can really cause problems and the fan can really help.
hi,
I was hoping you may be able to give me some information on to where I may be able to purchase small edible markers in bulk?
I have not actually purchased more than a few edible markers at a time, but I do purchase a lot of my products from wholesalers. If you have a vendor’s license, you too can purchase from these companies. You will get a better price per marker than you would otherwise, but they have minimum orders of $125 – $150. You can also purchase other candy making, cake decorating supplies and ingredients in the same order.
If you’d like the details about this, you can contact me at beth@hungryhappenings.com.
Oh God! Thanks for this post! I have three sets of Americolor pens that have dried out, and I think it'll be too expensive if I buy another set.
i wish i seen this posting before i threw out two batches of wiltons writers that never really worked even fresh out of the box they are useless ive had tons of people tell me to invest in amicolor writers now that ive seen this post i defintly will i dont think wiltons pens can be refilled do you know if they can?
I've never used the Wilton markers, so I am not sure if you can re-fill them, but I highly recommend the Americolor markers. They are very good.
i wish i seen this posting before i threw out two batches of wiltons writers that never really worked even fresh out of the box they are useless ive had tons of people tell me to invest in amicolor writers now that ive seen this post i defintly will i dont think wiltons pens can be refilled do you know if they can?
I recently bought food writers and tried to draw on marshmallows. The porous (spelling?) surface didn't work as well as I had hoped as the lines were real jagged.
I'm wondering if I could paint something (like maybe egg white) on top of the marshmallow next time to make a more smooth surface and then use the food writer. Is there a flaw in that thinking? Would the raw egg white have a negative effect – wouldn't want anyone to get sick 🙂
The markers were pretty expensive at Michaels, even with a 40% discount. Walmart had them at half the price. I'm so glad to know they can be refilled. Thank you for that and also for mentioning to store them up-side-down.
I'll try to get to this post again to see your suggestions as to writing more smoothly on marshmallows.
Tavette – S. Florida
Hi Tavette,
If you notice in the picture above of the marshmallows my lines are pretty jagged too. I've not drawn on marshmallows too often, but Meaghan from The Decorated Cookie does all the time (see all her marshmallow designs – http://thedecoratedcookie.com/marshmallows)
I wouldn't suggest brushing egg white on the marshmallow, but you could try making egg white out of meringue powder and using it. I'm not sure if it would work, though. You might just try using a pastry brush to brush some of the excess powder off the marshmallows before you draw on them, but the wrinkled surface of the marshmallow will still make it difficult to get a perfect line.
Good luck. I'd love to hear what ends up working for you.
Thank you so much for this post. You are a genius. I would never have thought of this… I would love to let my kids draw on their cookies but these markers are so expensive here…! Gosh. Thank you so much.. Lovely blog.. Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Veena
Just thought that I would add that if you have an airbrush, you can use those colors to refill your pens, too. Airbrush colors come in a multitude of colors. The only difference from the way I did mine and you did yours…I put the colors in a smal cup and dropped the markers in tip first. It takes FOREVER! I like your way much better! Thanks for sharing!
Rita-Lake Wylie,SC
Thanks for the great tip!
Great tips. I had no idea you could refill them. Thank you.
This is something I did not know! Thanks for the great tips!
Do you keep then in the fridge? I do because I worry about germy stuff growing on them from using them on everything from cheese to bread to eggs, etc.
I do wipe my markers on paper towels after using them, but never thought about storing them in the refrigerator. I've never stored food coloring in the fridge and don't know if the markers would be effected by the cold or condensation.
What a great idea! Thank you very much!!!
How would you refill a black marker? Would thinning down gel color work? Or maybe using airbrush color?
You can buy liquid black food coloring. Here is a link to some on Amazon.com —> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012OV6BK?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B0012OV6BK&linkCode=xm2&tag=hungryh-20
That is all I've tried. I'm not sure what air brush color is like, but if it is really thin it might work as well.
Thanks! I'll check out the link!
How would you refill a black marker? I wonder if you can water down gel colors, or would buying airbrush color work better?
How would you refill a black marker? I wonder if you can water down gel colors, or would buying airbrush color work better?
Have you tried writing on bread? Curious
I just tried them on bread and it does work, but it doesn't look great. I've painted on bread using a mixture of milk and food coloring and I think that looks better. You can see how I did it here —> https://hungryhappenings.com/valentines-day-breakfast-conversation.html
I have also used the markers on tortillas and buns and it worked better than on bread as the surface is quite a bit smoother.
Perfect timing just when I thought I was going to have to invest in a new set for markers! Thanks!
Hi Glory, I've had great success refilling my markers. The only issue is that you may have to mix some food coloring to get just the right color for your markers.
So what have you had bad luck with writing on?
Chocolate bars can be a huge challenge and cheese is very challenging because of the oils. If the markers are dried out, everything is a challenge!
You are awesome! I would have never thought of this!!! I will definitely be using this idea this week!