If cake, cupcake and cookie decoration art interest you and you want to make use of edible foot paints to make your yummy edible products look impressive, you should know the answer. Here are 10 key differentiating factors.
| Factors | Lustre Food Paints | Water Activated Food Paints |
| Physical Look | Aqueous (paste), powder or solid granules | Aqueous (paste) |
| Solvent Type (The product you use to dilute or dissolve the paint will serve as the solvent) | They can be dissolved easily in human-consumable alcohol. Chemically there are three variants - isopropyl, methyl, and ethyl, but only last one is suitable for consumption and is made available to general public. | They can be dissolved in water. Similar to water color, you can mix the paint in a container and apply. |
| How to Use | Shake the bottle well if it’s paste and then mix it with the prescribed solvent and stir well. Some granule or powder-based lustre paints are just sprinkled on the food to get the desired sparkling or other effects. | Add some water to a container or bowl and pour some paste out of the food paint bottle, and stir well to get a homogenous mixture. |
| Drying Time | Quick drying within seconds so you can paint multiple layers and colors in one sitting. The color wont smudge. | Takes a short time to dry. While applying multiple coatings, let the previous one dry first to avoid smudging. |
| Ingredients used (Might vary a little from one product to another) | Gum Arabic, HPMC, Titanium Dioxide (E171), Synthetic Food Colour (E102) | Water, Gum Arabic & Citric Acid are the basic elements. The coloring pigment could be Titanium Dioxide (E171), Iron Oxide (E172), or something else. These are vegan, plus free of alcohol, gluten, dairy, soy and peanuts. |
| Surface Hardness | Acquire some brittleness | Soft |
| Texture or Physical Appearance | Matte to Semi-Gloss in Finish | Matte finish |
| Uses | Chocolate, Isomalt, Ganache, Candy Melts, Cookies, Macarons, Royal Icing, Glaze Icing, Fondant, Gumpaste, Wafer Paper, Candy, Modeling Chocolate | Fondant, buttercream cakes (chilled), royal icing, sugar cookies, marshmallows, and more. |
| Not to use | Gelatin, Whipped Cream, -Buttercream, Any wet or highly porous surface | No restricted food, use on any food. |
| Shelf-life | 0 to 2 Years | 0 to 2 Years |
General Recommendations
If the food paint bottle has been kept for a long time, a sediment of the pigments might get deposited at its bottom. Squeeze the bottom if it’s of plastic, and then mix. Use a small spatula if you have got a container of glass or some kind of metal.
Always use 100% FDA compliant edible confectionery paints as offered by Icinginks. Most of our edible paints are free of gluten, dairy, soy and peanuts.
Hope you have got a clear understanding about the differences and similarities. Comment your edible food decoration thoughts and ideas, and leave queries if any. We’ll be glad to answer them.
