Beginner Please Help!

Decorating By butterflykissez Updated 27 Feb 2006 , 1:59am by butterflykissez

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butterflykissez Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 5:41am
post #1 of 17

Hello, I just starting designing cakes so I am very new to this. I am making the (wilton) elmo cake for my brother's birthday and need a little guidance with the food coloring and icing.

What icing do you recommend? How do I "properly" dye the icing and can you explain the "toothpick method" to me.

Thank you so much for reading this post icon_smile.gif

16 replies
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redred Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 8:53am
post #2 of 17

Welcome to Cake Central butterflykissez. I am new to the boards too and find the advice and support here is invaluable.

I recommend paste/gel colours. Wilton make them, and many swear by Americolor although I haven't tried them. Sugarflair (British brand) is good too. Paste colours are very vivid and won't change the consistency of the icing. Simply add a bit of the paste to the finished icing and stir till it is evenly blended. The 'toothpick' method refers to the fact that the icing is very concentrated so add only a bit at a time, using a toothpick, until you can see how intensely the colour is developing.

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veejaytx Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 9:37am
post #3 of 17

Hi, welcome to both of you, hope you have a great time on CC.

redred, is that kitten in your avatar yours? It is so precious! It looks like my 15 year old Rupert must have looked when he was a baby (He was at least a year old when my daughter brought him home with her, and then left him with me later on.)

I definitely prefer the Americolors (gel paste), their colors are very rich and deep. Americolor comes in a flip-top bottle, so it is easy to apply to your icing. I've used some Wilton and some powdered colors, but the gelpaste seems to work best.

Once again, welcome to CC. Janice

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Cakey Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 11:02am
post #4 of 17

Redred,

That is the cutest kitten in the WORLD in your avatar!! Wish my cats were that cute.

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dydemus Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 11:53am
post #5 of 17

Hi butterflykissez. Welcome to the art! I love the Elmo cakes. I would highly recommend the Americolor colors. They are much more vibrant, and easier to use, so you can toss out the toothpick method altogether. Elmo takes a lot of red - if you use Wilton, you will probably have to use an entire bottle, and it still might not be red. Americolor will give you a faster, truer red without so much dye, and since it is a squeezebottle, you don't have to use a toothpick (to dip in and add color to the icing). And since Elmo has so much icing, and so much fur, I would recommend buttercream. It is the best tasting ( I think) and holds the fur shape icon_smile.gif. good luck, hope to see your pictures soon!

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stephanie214 Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 12:42pm
post #6 of 17

Hi butterflykissez,

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Cake Central.

Americolor is wonderful to use and gives the best coloring with your icing.

Try using tip 233 (grass tip) to do Elmo. This will give him the fur look and save your hands from doing all those stars icon_lol.gif

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redred Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 12:45pm
post #7 of 17

No, it's not my kitten alas. I saw it on a site called Kitten Wars. I agree, it's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen, might be a scottish fold.

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ps3884 Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 12:56pm
post #8 of 17

Last month I bought my first bottles of Americolor and I do like these better. The reds are far better than the Wilton pastes and the powdered that I tried. I would have to agree with dydemus - you would probably have to use at least a whole bottle of Wilton red and you still may not get the red you were hoping for. Even with the Americolor you will have to use a lot more than with other colors but, you will get RED.

Welcome and good luck. Be sure to post a picture when you're done. icon_biggrin.gif

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projectqueen Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 3:52pm
post #9 of 17

As far as what icing to use, the recipe on the Wilton insert to the Elmo pan is a good one. It's a buttercream using 1/2 crisco and 1/2 butter or margarine. I think it tastes better than the one using all crisco.

Also, I would go with the Americolor red. The Wilton color makes the icing taste bitter when you add a whole lot of dark color to it. I tried using Wilton last year to make the Barney purple and it tasted awful. I had to throw the whole batch of icing away and get Americolor. Then it was fine. I guess Wilton would be okay if you only needed a small amount of a dark color, but there is a whole lot of red on Elmo!

Good luck!

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JamieL Posted 21 Feb 2006 , 6:52pm
post #10 of 17

Just wanted to say--I've been doing cakes for three years now, and I haven't yet tried the Americolor icing, but I'm going to based on this thread! Thanks as always for the help here--the idea of not having to use six thousand toothpicks (and not shying away from red cakes anymore) is really terrific!

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butterflykissez Posted 22 Feb 2006 , 1:47am
post #11 of 17

Thank you to everyone with the replys. I work at a store that sells wilton products but I never heard of Americolor. Where do you buy them? I got the wilton coloring for elmo (red, black, and orange) is it still okay to mix the colors or should I return them all? Do I still use the toothpick method with the americolor icing? Sorry for all the questions...

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ps3884 Posted 22 Feb 2006 , 3:07am
post #12 of 17

Several places on-line sell Americolor. You can get them right here on CC. They are on sale too! The Americolor actually have a flip top so you can squeeze out drops of color instead of using a toothpick. However, sometimes I'm afraid of getting too much so I will still take off the top and use the toothpick.

HTH

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chaptlps Posted 22 Feb 2006 , 3:10am
post #13 of 17

nah chuck the ol toothpics hun.
with the americolors you will usually just drip the color in or heck with the red go ahead and squirt away.
Only time I use a toothpick type of implement is when I am tryin to dig the color out of those rediculously small containers of wilton colors. LOL

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Cake_Princess Posted 22 Feb 2006 , 4:32am
post #14 of 17

Butterfly,

If you do use the toothpick only dip it once. Do not stick it in the icing then put it back in the bottle. Your colours will last longer this way.

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butterflykissez Posted 22 Feb 2006 , 5:42am
post #15 of 17

I have another question (sorry again) How do you get the icing spread without any lines or marks. I know most cakes are done with fondant but I plan on doing just a buttercream icing. Is their a special tool / spatula?

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ps3884 Posted 24 Feb 2006 , 1:56pm
post #16 of 17

There are so many people here that do a better job than myself at this but, I've done okay using lots of icing, a spatula and hot water. Once I have the cake iced as best I can (I use an icing tip first), I then run my spatula under hot water, shake of the excess, then run it over the cake (just like when you're icing it).

Other people swear by the Viva paper towel method. I haven't tried it yet. It seams pretty easy though. http://cakecentral.com/article10-How-To-Create-Faux-Fondant.html

Here is a link to another post that discusses smoothing icing. http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-39705.html A lot of this is preference, what works best for you.

Good Luck

HTH

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butterflykissez Posted 27 Feb 2006 , 1:59am
post #17 of 17

thanks

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