DIY coloured sprinkles

Those in the know are already aware I had my first Wilton Gum Paste and Fondant class today... I will be sharing photos and thoughts as things progress, but in the meantime, I wanted to post this photo:


These are the plain, colourless Wilton sparkling sugars after I had dyed them with Golden Yellow and Pink. My professional baker friend Nicole gave me this idea years ago, but I didn't try it until last night because the class prep list said we had to bring yellow sparkling sugar to class.

So how did I do it? I dabbed a bit of gel dye inside a small zip bag with a toothpick, poured in some sugar, zipped up the bag, and shook. When I was happy with the colour, I poured the contents onto a flat container to airdry. Easy peasy!

Now, as for lessons learned, I figured out with the yellow that the longer you shake, the more intense the colour on the sugar, up to the actual shade of the dye. When I did the pink, I shook lightly for a few seconds so the colour is very light, but a couple pieces picked up the darker shade anyway. Also, the more dye that the sugar picks up, the longer it takes to dry. Lastly, I used a makeshift aluminimum foil dish instead of an actual plate to avoid accidental staining.