Black Airbrush Color and Edible Marker: Why Aren't They Coming Out Black?

Have you ever used a black edible marker, only to come back a couple of days later and see that your nice black lines look like they have turned green or pink or some other definitively not-black color? Or maybe you are using black airbrush color, and you notice that your black and white checkerboard looks more like a green and white checkerboard? Well, you’re not going crazy, and you don’t need to schedule a trip to the eye doctor (I mean, maybe you do, but probably not related to this particular issue). Let’s talk about black dyes.

If you spray a light layer of black airbrush color onto your white-flooded cookie, you’ll likely note that a) it doesn’t go on deeply black immediately (hello, light layers), and b) it has a greenish tinge as it hits the cookie. This is because black airbrush color often has a green base, with other pigments added in that make the concentrated color truly black. When you lay down a light spray, the color isn’t concentrated anymore, and that green base becomes visible. To achieve a true black when airbrushing, your best method is to apply several light, even layers of color, allowing them to dry for a few moments before adding the next. As you add layers, they will build color on top of each other until you reach your desired black.

If your instinct is telling you to just skip the layering and spray a heavy layer of that concentrated black liquid all over your cookie—don’t do it! Pulling your trigger all the way back is a recipe for disaster, as too much wet color will hit your cookie all at once, causing it to pool or streak weirdly, and leaving a mottled, uneven result. You may even find that it won’t dry properly, if at all. Say it with me: light layers are your friend!

Now, edible markers are a little bit different, as color variations on your icing will usually occur not during application, but in the coming hours or days. Most commonly, cookiers will draw on their fully-dried cookies with marker, allow the ink to dry (which really doesn’t take that long), and then go ahead and bag up the finished cookies. In the next day or days, you may see that your black marker lines have faded to a green, or that the color has split into greens and pinks and possibly bled outwards from the drawn line. Super frustrating, for sure.