Back in 1.8 I was able to do

EntityItem e = new EntityItem(Minecraft.getMinecraft().theWorld, 0D, 0D, 0D, new ItemStack(Items.apple));
e.hoverStart = 0F;
rendermanager.doRenderEntity(e, 0.0D, 0.0D, 0.0D, 0.0F, 1.0F, false);

And it would render in the gui without any problems.

 

Now after updating to 1.9, the entity turns dark even though I have disabled lighting and also I cannot scale it in the z axis.

 

Any idea?

You shouldn't be using the Item Entity renderer to render items in a GUI anyway.

You shouldn't be using the Item Entity renderer to render items in a GUI anyway.

 

I know that I can use

Minecraft.getMinecraft().getRenderItem().renderItemAndEffectIntoGUI(itemStack, 0, 0);

for GUI, but I don't have that much control over the way it is rendered