Pastry Airbrush: How to use it?

We eat with our eyes, it is well known. Therefore, a beautifully designed cake , whether it is made of fondant, covered with marzipan flowers or cream, is equally indulgent and appetizing.

In recent years, a new possibility has emerged in the field of pastry: The food airbrush for decorating pastries and cakes.

In this guide, you are going to learn what airbrushing is and how you can use airbrushing to create beautiful cakes with food coloring .

How to use an airbrush for cakes and pastries

An airbrush gun can be used in many different ways. You can use it not only to airbrush small objects or spray a tattoo on the skin for example, but also to decorate cakes depending on the liquid ink you pour into the airbrush tank . With an edible airbrush gun , you can practically make any form of art appear on a cake:

• fine ornaments
• Different shapes and patterns with stencils
• Nice color gradients and shades
• Complete images such as landscapes or animals
• 3D effects

All kinds of food preparations can be sprayed , such as fondant, marzipan , sugar paste or royal icing. However, white fondant in a roll is best suited for this airbrush technique.

Decorating cakes or pastries using a cake airbrush may seem difficult at first, but it's not. In this guide, you will understand what you need to pay attention to.

We tested different cake airbrush kits . Our recommendation clearly goes for the Airbrush Starter Kit . This Aero Cake set convinces with its good price-performance ratio and also contains everything you need to decorate your desserts.

Aero Cake Airbrush Kit Pros:

• Practical set with transport box
• The included compressor can be set to automatic mode. This allows you to work quickly and easily
• The airbrush compressor is quiet, allowing full concentration while working.
• The airbrush gun for cakes can be used for large surfaces but also for the finest details.
• The Aero Cake kit includes different colors, which can be sprayed well with the airbrush gun.
• The color palette included in the kit provides you with an orientation guide when mixing spray colors.
• The Aero Cake professional kit contains all the necessary utensils for cleaning: a cleaning pot, brushes, a special cleaning product.
• If you are not satisfied with your Aero Cake kit , you can simply send it back and get your money back.

We found no problem spraying colors on our cakes with the Aero Cake Airbrush Gun . The price is justified by the scope of the airbrush kit and the quality of the airbrush. The colors are very vivid. Therefore, we strongly recommend the purchase of this airbrush kit .

What are the best airbrush food colors?

Airbrush food colors are characterized by a few special properties. As with all airbrush paints , the paint should not be too thick in consistency, otherwise the airbrush gun will quickly clog. The paint must therefore have a strong pigmentation . If the paint is too thick, you can easily thin it. In principle, food colors in paste or powder form can also be diluted and used.

However, since airbrush beginners cannot judge whether these pigments are suitable for airbrushing , we do not recommend it. If the paint is not suitable, the nozzle may clog. We recommend using only liquid food colors and preferably those intended for use in the airbrush gun .

Care must be taken when using edible pigments on fondant. Fondant consists mainly of sugar and is therefore softened by liquid colors as these dissolve the sugar. The fondant then begins to "sweat" and may even partially dissolve. The airbrush paint is atomized very finely so that this problem does not occur. If you want to create intense colors , you can apply several coats of paint and let them dry before each new coat. All fondants can handle this fine spray mist.

However, fondant only tolerates these colors if they are not diluted too much with water. Indeed, an excess of water leads to the dissolution of the sugar contained in the fondant. It is therefore advisable to use special food colors for airbrushing. The quality of the paint used is also crucial.

Our Aero Cake Airbrush Food Color Set contains several different liquid colors suitable for spraying.

Aero Cake Airbrush Kit Dyes Benefits:

• Aero Cake colors are of course food safe
• High opacity allows economical working with high gloss
• Aero Cake colors can be dosed easily by droplet
• Easy to use Aero Cake pigments are liquid
• These Aero Cake pigments are specially designed for gravity airbrushing and therefore must not be diluted

All Aero Cake colorants are of excellent quality and have high color intensity. We can definitely recommend this Aero Cake Food Color Set and found no downsides.

Advantages of the airbrush for decorating pastries:

• There are many advantages to using a pastry airbrush . The Aero Cake airbrush offers you many possibilities. With its airbrush gun , you can not only create different patterns and color gradients, but you can also mix colors to create original and unique shades. You can also do this by mixing fondants of different colors or with Aero Cake food coloring , but it takes a lot more work. With the help of an eyedropper, you can mix airbrush food coloring very easily.

• You can make your paste colorful and create beautiful color transitions. When using fondant without an airbrush , you either have to limit yourself to one color or the decoration of the cake will be very laborious. With the Aero Cake pastry airbrush for cakes and chocolates you can create the color change much easier.

• If you want to create impressive cakes with a unique or personalized decoration, the Aero Cake airbrush is for you. Using the airbrush gun allows you to create stunning 3D cakes . With fondant, marzipan or sugar paste, it is impossible to create such shades without an airbrush gun .

• Working with the Aero Cake airbrush gun is quick and easy. You don't have to know how to draw elaborate designs or buy expensive decorative accessories. With the airbrush gun, you can easily create your artwork on your cake with or without a template. So you can design each cake according to the occasion: for example with flowers for a birthday cake or colorful figures for children.

Preparing your Aero Cake Kit for your cakes

The assembly of your pastry airbrush is very simple: You first connect the supplied hose to the gun and the airbrush compressor . Connect the compressor to the power supply. Often the compressor of the Aero Cake Airbrush Kit is automatic, which makes your job easier. The air pressure you need to spray will be triggered by the airbrush trigger at your fingertip.

Next, you can prep your work surface with the protective airbrush booth included in the kit, then pour the food-grade pigment of your choice into the paint reservoir of the Aero Cake airbrush gun . Be careful not to pour too much dye. Usually two or three drops are enough. If you put too much paint in the reservoir, you need to empty the excess edible paint . So it is better to add a little paint and add more if necessary.

Preparing your airbrush work surface

You absolutely must use a turntable for your airbrushing work. If you do not have one yet, it is worth buying one, as it will greatly facilitate your work. You can save a lot of time by airbrushing your cake by turning it on itself.

An airbrush air extraction system is also a smart purchase if you plan to use the airbrush gun every day. If you do not have a vacuum system, you must protect your work area well by covering it with newspaper or a paint booth for example, because a fine mist of paint is created when airbrushing . This will land not only on your cake, but also all around it.

You can also put your cake in a large cardboard box and pulverize it under the turned-on extractor hood of your stove. This has a similar effect to the extraction system. To get a good grip on the cake, the box should be open at the front and top. The side walls and the extractor hood will keep your work area relatively clean. However, if you want to use your airbrush gun frequently, we recommend purchasing an airbrush extraction system, as it will save you time in covering and clearing the work area.

Spraying large areas and fine lines

You should not make your first attempts at airbrushing directly on the cake, but first familiarize yourself with the airbrush gun . For this, you can spray your first large areas, fine lines and color gradients on cardboard or a cake board. The Aero Cake airbrush gun is easy to use, but a little practice never hurts. As soon as you have acquired a good command of your pastry airbrush , you can start aiming at the cake and spraying your first pattern. You can either use special stencils or make your own stencils from cardboard or kitchen paper.

Spray patterns on cakes

Airbrushing cake designs requires a steady hand and some skill. It is not so easy to paint thin, straight lines. Ornaments and large flowers are not too difficult, even for beginners, provided you take into account some details.

It is not possible to spray sharp edges with the airbrush gun. They will always look a little washed out. If you want to create clear, clean edges, you should use a stencil. You should also use stencils if you want to make intricate, detailed designs on your cake.

Use of spray stencils

You can paint any design on your cake without an airbrush stencil . However, using airbrush stencils makes decorating your cakes much easier. They are available in all imaginable variations.

If the design you want is not included, you can also simply make an airbrush template for your cake yourself. Just cut it out of cardboard. It's not as clean as with a special airbrush model for cakes, but it's certainly good enough for starters. Most airbrush stencils are already available for a few euros.

Ideas for using the pastry airbrush

• An idea for airbrushed pastries would be to design a wave or night sky shaped cake. For this, you can use a corrugated piece of torn kitchen paper. Place it on top of the cake and spray blue paint in varying thicknesses on the top edge. You can also create waves or clouds.

• With the Aero Cake airbrush gun you can also decorate a Layer Cake more easily. Cover the cake with white fondant. On the edge of the cake, spray color gradients then then dip a small sponge in alcohol and use it to blend the color gradient upwards.

• Pastry airbrush food colors can be used in many different ways and are not only used to design cakes and pies, but also other types of desserts. For example, at Easter, you can create egg-shaped cookies with a color gradient or you can make an Easter cake with marzipan bunnies, which you color with an airbrush.

• You can also use the Aero Cake gun to decorate small chocolates with squiggles of food coloring.

• The cream of the cupcakes can be airbrushed in bright colors and then sprinkled with small edible sprinkles.

• If you have artistic talents, you can also use food airbrush to create cakes with realistic 3D designs, such as snakes or dragons. These cake toppers are sure to be a hit at children's birthday parties.

• The most incredible with the airbrush is surely the decoration of chocolate because the contrast of colors with the shine of the chocolate is wonderful. Spray some coloring spray on your polycarbonate chocolate molds and once dry you just have to pour your melted chocolate into your chocolate molds. Wait a few minutes for the chocolate to cool and unmold a magnificent personalized chocolate bar (photo below)

Cleaning the Aero Cake Airbrush Gun

You should clean your food grade airbrush gun after each use and after each color change. If you don't clean the airbrush after changing color, the food coloring will mix together and you won't get the color you want. For this, you should consider buying an airbrush cleaning jar. You will be able to quickly change color without having to clean all the pastry airbrush .

As airbrush food colorings are water soluble, cleaning the food airbrush gun is quite easy and you don't necessarily need a special cleaning agent. Just rinse the gun well under hot water. Then you can also fill the paint container with hot water. Spray with the Aero Cake airbrush until only clear water comes out of the gun. When there is no more paint in the gun, continue to spray until the Aero Cake gun is dry and only air comes out.

Cleaning is easier when the paint is still wet, so don't wait too long for cleaning. If the paint is already dry, it may not be possible to remove it at all and the nozzle will clog. To clean the pastry airbrush gun effectively, you can use a special cleaning agent. This is often included in airbrush cleaning kits , but you can also purchase it separately. You can also use high purity alcohol. Deep airbrush cleaning should be done after every third or fourth use and for this the gun should be completely disassembled and cleaned with small brushes. The needle is particularly sensitive and can bend quickly, so you need to pay special attention to it. If the needle is bent, it needs to be replaced, so it is recommended to have several replacement airbrush needles .

Airbrushing cakes isn't as complicated as you might think. On the one hand, this type of decoration is a lot of fun, and on the other hand, you will earn a lot of admiration from your loved ones with your new creations. Just try this technique of decorating your cake with our Aero Cake airbrush .