Roxy & Rich FONDUST® a fantastic powder colorant for pastry chefs!

If you follow me on social media, you will see me use a product called FONDUST® in just about every post!

Before I go on to explain why I love this product, let me tell you what it is.

FONDUST® is an easy to use, microencapsulated, and 100% edible food colouring.  It is a highly pigmented dust that is used to colour fondant, royal icing, buttercream, candy, etc.  Practically everything except pure chocolate.  With this product, you can achieve dark colours, such as black and red, as well as bright colours such as orange and pink.

Some advantages of FONDUST ® are:

• Matte finish
• Water-soluble
• Highly concentrated colour
• Immediate colouring
• UV-resistant colours

Richard, one of the founders of Roxy & Rich, created FONDUST ® in 2016.  This unique and one of a kind product was nominated in 2017 at the Cake Masters Award for the BEST PRODUCT! 

I was introduced to FONDUST ® in November of 2019.  It took using it a couple of times to get used to the high potency of the product!  Because they are highly concentrated, you only need minimal amounts to achieve gorgeous shades.  Let me touch on some important points you may want to take note of.

Using Fondust® with Royal Icing:

I know a lot of people add white pigment to their royal icing to avoid colour bleed.  While it is great to add white pigment to your white icing to brighten it up.  It is not recommended to add the white pigment to your icing while trying to achieve deep colours such as red or black.  The reason is that the white food colour contains titanium dioxide which is a colour inhibitor. It keeps the pigments from fully developing.  This would be why your red is turning pink and your black is turning grey! 

While FONDUST is considered an instant colourant, I prefer to use less pigment and mix it a few shades lighter than the desired shade.  Once I let it develop for a few hours, it becomes darker/brighter.  ALSO, it dries darker, similar to paint on a wall.  So be sure to take this into account while mixing it up!

Using Fondust® with Buttercream: 

• You need approximately 3g to 4g of Fondust to colour 1kg of buttercream. If the batch is bigger, you will need more dust.

• If the buttercream doesn’t contain a lot of humidity, you will have to add 1 or 2 drops of water and then mix. The water will activate Fondust so it fully develops to a deep dark colour without changing the texture.

• If a lot of lemon juice or acid has been used, the colour may be affected. In that case, the solution would be to use less acid agents.

• If it is a premade buttercream mix, check the ingredients. It may contain Titanium Dioxide (also called TiO2 or E171). This is a whitening agent that will make it very hard, almost impossible to reach a perfect deep shade.

Using FONDUST® with Fondant: 

Simply knead approximately 3g of dust into 1kg of fondant to achieve maximum colour intensity.  If the fondant contains white pigment (titanium dioxide- as discussed earlier), you will require more FONDUST to reach maximum colour intensity. 

Wearing food-safe gloves will help prevent staining on your hands. 

*Use a paper towel, or a mat on your work surface to prevent staining

So, why do I love FONDUST®?  Simply put- FONDUST® is THE BEST dust colourant in the industry.  I have used just about everything on the market, and this product is incomparable. There is no bitter aftertaste and no odor.  You can achieve multiple shades from a single jar.  (For example, Super Red.  You can achieve a pretty pink or coral colour by using minimal dust – all the way up to a vibrant and deep red using its full strength!)

There are 52 shades in the FONDUST collection – which equates to hundreds of different shades!

Easy to use and superior quality! 

Using this dust has simplified colour mixing for me- specifically for the dark colours such as red and black.  Not worrying about a bitter aftertaste is a bonus!