I recently made several fall cakes for friends, and wanted to use wafer paper [1] for the edible autumn leaves.
It took some experimenting and research, and I definitely don't have it all figured out, but I was happy with the results I got, and I wanted to share the different techniques I tried and looks they achieved.
The richest color came from painting the wafer paper [1] with oil-based candy food coloring [2]. I loved the way it looked, but be forwarned, it never completely dries. That wasn't a big deal, but I did get a bit of color smudged on my fingers as I was placing the leaves on the cake.
The next most vibrant technique for coloring wafer paper used powdered food coloring [3]. If you just rub plain powdered food coloring on the wafer paper it will tint the paper, but in a very light, pastel way. However, if you give it a light spray of oil, or rub a thin coating of shortening on the wafer paper, and then use your fingers to rub the powdered food coloring [3] into the paper, you get a much brighter, saturated color. Like coloring with oil candy colors, this never dried completely, though it was a little less sticky than the oil based food coloring.
I also experimented with spraying the wafer paper with aerosol food coloring spray [4]. It worked nicely, and was incredibly easy, but the colors weren't as vibrant.
I attempted to use a watercolor technique to paint my wafer paper, and used gel food coloring [5] thinned like watercolor paints with everclear alcohol. Even using the fast-to-evaporate Everclear, my papers turned into a wrinkled mess.
I attempted to solve this by shielding the wrinkly paper with parchment paper (mostly so I wouldn't get my iron all colorful and messy), and ironed it flat.
It... kinda worked. I've heard that my issue might be the type of wafer paper I bought, that there are different (better?) grades of the stuff. I'll experiment and report back.
I ended up using all three of the techniques for the leaves on the rustic fall wedding cake I made. But my favorite technique was painting with the candy food coloring--at least for this application. It's nice to know what kind of looks I can achieve using the other techniques as well.
Have you worked with wafer paper? If you know any good tips and tricks, I'd love to learn more!