Where can I buy sugarpaste ans purple food colouring from?

[spookysal]

I am making the Jane Asher Gruffalo cake for dd1s birthday.

I need the above items, where can I find them?

[DameMargotFountain]

where are you, OP?

i'm going to the sugarsmiths in a half an hour...

[spookysal]

That's a kind offer, I'm in Reading DameMargot.

[evenkeel]

Lakeland do all that sort of stuff now - are you near a branch, OP?

[DameMargotFountain]

i'm quite a way away

but yes, Lakeland do very good sugarpaste and colours

[Sickandsad]

Hobbycraft stores sell sugarpaste and kinds of cake decorating gizmos if there's one near you?

[Prizepudding]

Hobbycraft?

[Sparklyblue]

If you have time for ordering online I use this company.

stores.ebay.co.uk/partyanimalonline?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

They are really good and they deliver very quickly.
Also if you want to colour your icing, it would be best to use something like a paste or gel colouring, as using a liquid one would make your icing too soggy. Sugar Flair is a good product.

[moonbells]

Reading?

www.need-a-cake.co.uk/sugar-craft-shop/

They sell most things!

[moonbells]

ooops

www.need-a-cake.co.uk/sugar-craft-shop/
Unit 4C, Woodley Park Estate
Reading Road
Woodley, Reading
Berkshire, RG5 3AW

There's also this place,

frostings.co.uk/cake-supplies
31, Station Rd, Twyford, Reading , RG10 9NS

[spookysal]

Thank you all I think I'll pop to the shop in Woodley tomorrow.

I've just looked at the recipe again and I need red, black, white and orange. Do you buy it and colour it yourself?

[pigleychez]

I made a Gruffalo cake for DD1's 3rd birthday last year. (pic on my profile)

I only needed small amounts of the purple, green,Black and Orange icing but found a place on ebay that sold it in small amounts which was perfect.
Since then ive discovered the gel food colouring and make up my own coloured icing. Def use gel! Again I bought a selection on Ebay.

Ive since seen that Sainsburys have started selling small packs of Red, black and blue.
And when I needed small amounts for DD2's Peppa pig cake, I bought a boxed pack of coloured Icing in Sainsburys. There were 5 different primary colours in small packs. This box 500g of each colour. Think the colours were red, black, blue, green and yellow.

[spookysal]

Pigleychez your photos are beautiful. I hope my cake turns out as good as yours.

Thanks for the link, off to have a look at it!

[spookysal]

That's exactly what I need but there is no orange and the Gruffalo has to have orange eyes. Can I mix the red and yellow to make orange.

I need to make the cake on Thursday so can't really buy from Ebay and iI'm not sure about colouring it myself.

[StarsGhostTail]

food colouring mixes just like paint and you can kneed in liquid and paste quite happily.
Just remember to add the paste colour last in tiny bits as no amount of liquid colour will win if you get too much.

Anything needing brown you just make everything first and kneed together the scraps, like play Doh it goes brown.

Christmas red and green, make very good brown, handy for reindeer, pine cones and tree trunks.

You can get most things if you have red, blue, yellow and green. You can use yellow and blue to adjust green, but I've never had much luck mixing it.

If you have girl pink and purple are worth it as they are crisper than anything you can do with read and blue.

Buy black sugar paste! Black food colouring is evil everything except the fondant turns black.

[pigleychez]

Spooky- The orange would be easy to make.
Buy normal white icing from the supermarket. Grab a chunk and add a little bit of the orange gel ( you really do only need a tiny bit) and kneed the icing. Just like bread or playdough. Add more gel if you want a stronger Orange. Its easier than you think!

Dr Oetoker also do this which they sell in Sainsburys too.
I bought the purple for a halloween cake this week. In hindsight i wish id bought two tubes as the purple wasnt very strong but they were quite cheap though so could work if you cant get to a cakeshop/Hobbycraft.

[spookysal]

Thanks starghosttail. Just hope i can find some purple food colouring!

[glentheburningbattleostrich]

Sugar paste is really easy to make (I do it for my cakes). I have a recipe if you want it (just need to dig it out). Then you just make one batch of white and colour as much as you need.

[bigbadbarry]

Bizarrely and for no explicable reason WHSmiths appear to be selling these items now.

[twinklytoes]

buy tesco's fondant and colour if you need loads of one colour.

by sugarflair grape violet paste from woodley. if it's only small amounts of the other colours then there are packs in tesco etc of the primary colours if you don't want to colour your own. my advice though is defiantely buy the red sugarpaste - to colour red and get a true red takes alot of paste and can dry out and crack very easily.

[Sickandsad]

Umm why is Hobbycraft a weird suggestion? Is this an MN thing I don't know about??

[spookysal]

Crossed posts with you earlier pigleychez.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Think I will hit Sainsburys and Tescos first, then Woodley and Lakeland/hobbycraft.

Between then I should be able to pull it all together.

Thank you all for the advice.