Lake colors are aluminum salts of food dyes. They are oil soluble and they are used to form a fine layer of on the top of fat based foods (such as chocolate)to color them.

Lakes -thank God- are not available to the consumers. They are for the food industry. I am totally against use of food coloring except natural ones like carotens for orange/yellow, and beet juice for pink. On the other hand, caramel color is a natural color but they use sulfites during its production so I avoid it too. Also carmine -a red dye- is natural but obtained from an insect so it is not all that appealing to my taste buds.

Any way, this is one of the best food blogs out there. I admire not only your experience in food preparation but also your creativity. Thank you.