diff --git a/src/font.cpp b/src/font.cpp
index 2de101f4ecf..1629a7d30c3 100644
--- a/src/font.cpp
+++ b/src/font.cpp
@@ -880,12 +880,8 @@ surface floating_label::create_surface()
 		}
 		else {
 			// background is blurred shadow of the text
-			// we don't parse markup here to guarantee a black shadow
-			// FIXME: using color mark-up will cause colored shadow
-			surface background = font::render_text(text_, font_size_, font::BLACK_COLOUR, 0, true);
 			//TODO add a little extra space for the blur of letters with a lower part
-			background = blur_alpha_surface(background, 2, false);
-			background = adjust_surface_alpha(background, ftofxp(4.0), false);
+			surface background = shadow_image(foreground, false);
 			
 			if (background == NULL) {
 				ERR_FT << "could not create floating label's shadow" << std::endl;
diff --git a/src/sdl_utils.cpp b/src/sdl_utils.cpp
index 68870155b90..7adfbb2cd3c 100644
--- a/src/sdl_utils.cpp
+++ b/src/sdl_utils.cpp
@@ -635,6 +635,44 @@ surface darken_image(surface const &surf, bool optimize)
 	return optimize ? create_optimized_surface(nsurf) : nsurf;
 }
 
+surface shadow_image(surface const &surf, bool optimize)
+{
+	if(surf == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+
+	// we blur it, and reuse the neutral surface created by the blur function (optimized = false)
+	surface nsurf (blur_alpha_surface(surf, 2, false));
+
+	if(nsurf == NULL) {
+		std::cerr << "failed to blur the shadow surface\n";
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	{
+		surface_lock lock(nsurf);
+		Uint32* beg = lock.pixels();
+		Uint32* end = beg + nsurf->w*surf->h;
+
+		while(beg != end) {
+			Uint8 alpha = (*beg) >> 24;
+
+			if(alpha) {
+				// increase alpha and color in black (RGB=0)
+				// with some stupid optimization for handling maximum values
+				if (alpha < 255/4)
+					*beg = (alpha*4) << 24;
+				else
+					*beg = 0xFF000000; // we hit the maximum
+			}
+
+			++beg;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return optimize ? create_optimized_surface(nsurf) : nsurf;
+}
+
+
 surface recolor_image(surface surf, const std::map<Uint32, Uint32>& map_rgb, bool optimize){
 	if(map_rgb.size()){
 		if(surf == NULL)
diff --git a/src/sdl_utils.hpp b/src/sdl_utils.hpp
index ffa8efcd6ef..03b85cb0c46 100644
--- a/src/sdl_utils.hpp
+++ b/src/sdl_utils.hpp
@@ -170,6 +170,8 @@ surface scale_surface_blended(surface const &surf, int w, int h, bool optimize=t
 surface adjust_surface_colour(surface const &surf, int r, int g, int b, bool optimize=true);
 surface greyscale_image(surface const &surf, bool optimize=true);
 surface darken_image(surface const &surf, bool optimize=true);
+/** create an heavy shadow of the image, by blurring, increasing alpha and darkening */
+surface shadow_image(surface const &surf, bool optimize=true);
 surface recolor_image(surface surf, const std::map<Uint32, Uint32>& map_rgb, bool optimize=true);
 
 surface brighten_image(surface const &surf, fixed_t amount, bool optimize=true);