I switched from Wilton to Americolor in a big way--bought big bottles in every color they have. A week ago used a combination of electric green and leaf green, and the BC ended up looking "pock-marked" with little indentations everywhere. I IM'd the person who is supposed to be CC's Americolor rep and never heard back from him. This week I did a golf course themed cake and mixed 1/3 leaf green with 2/3 forest green. After a little over a day two nickel-sized whitish spots appeared--looked as if the color had just leached away somehow. This wasn't cake showing through, and the color had been mixed thoroughly and looked fine when it went on and after it crusted. The cake has been in an air conditioned house. Anyone else having problems?

Hmmm -- I don't think I've had any problems with Americolor. I did do a cake (fondant) that turned white the next day, but I can't remember if I used Americolor or Wilton. I asked here about it and people said that if a cake is left in light (esp. fluorescent) that the color will fade. You said you left yours for 2 days, perhaps this was the reason?

Hope this doesn't happen to me in the future with Americolor!

S.

I've mixed all kinds of colors from Americolor and never had a probem- except if I'm doing a really saturated color in MMF and then I have to watch it because it can become really sticky and needs lots more PS (which lightens it some so I then have to add more color- sometimes can get a bit frustrating). But I've never had the problems you're speaking of.
Maybe your color was at the wrong temp before you got it??? Did it sit in a hot mailbox or in the sun on your porch for a long time before you got it? Or maybe your cake got some sun on it?

I thought i did something wrong, i have a problem with the red doing that today, it looked speckled, no matter waht i did. Huh,

Well, no fluorescent light, and as far as I know the colors haven't gotten overheated. I, too, had the problem with color-saturated fondant getting very sticky. Added PS; color lightened; added color; fondant sticky... Ended up going with sticky fondant the right color and using shortening to combat the stickiness. Am now very uneasy about anything needing deep color saturation--especially if it's going to be sitting for awhile.

Do you add any salt to your icing. I had this problem with Wilton Colors & emailed them & they said the salt was making it do that. When I quit adding the pinch of salt. It Quit! HTH.

I have never had this problem. I mostly use Americolor. I usually add a pinch of salt to my icing too. Hope you figure out what's wrong!

I learned to use power color with my fondant. It really makes a difference in the sticky factor. I also have never had any issues with americolor. Did any water drip on your cake while it was sitting?

No salt in the BC; it was half unsalted butter and half store brand shortening--still looking for the best Crisco replacement. Unlikely that there were any water drips, but my daughter worked on it so it's possible. I do add salt to my fondant so if I have trouble in the future I'll be glad to know that could be the culprit. Thanks vcr!

Could it be the store brand shortening?

K i just had this problem too on this last batch of icing i made. I don't think it's the colors per se that caused my probs. I used water instead of milk (heat factor, didn't want milk goin all weird on me while the cakes sat in the heat) I noticed that my frosting had a totally different consistency than usual (I usually just use milk or half n half). It also made my colors look grainy kind of like granite.
My bc recipe is 1 part shortening to 2 parts sugar with flavoring to taste and milk to proper consistency (depends on whether I am frosting cakes or making icing colors) I weigh out my sugar n shortening. So water and/or salt could be the culprit. Not per se the colors themselves.

Hmmm- chaptlps, you may have hit on something. I, too, just switched to water in stead of milk for the summer. Your description of "grainy" is excellent. Yup, that's what it looks like.

Wow, I do feel honored to hear from the Big Kahuna himself!! Thanks for the update, Heath.

I'm wondering if the oil based candy colors would be better. So many of you guys have been having issues with the new 0 transfat shortenings that I'll bet your shortening is not blending well with the gel based stuff. It sounds like the pigments are migrating.

Just a thought..

i havent had any troubles with the amricolors and i used them all weekend buttercream and fondant - for the fondant being sticky - i will add the color when i melt the marshmallows then add small amounts if needed at the end - this way i avoid streaks of color and there is minimal or no stickiness from the coloring

The walmart shortening works great to replace criso. When I used color in the new crisco it look like the icing had to much shortening , it seperated & looked yuckie. Try the walmart brand, I had my reservations,but when I icing my first cake, I was so excited I called my husband on the Golf course! Ha! & colors looked great.

i don't care for americolor...i haven't had good results with them either.

I spent the last couple of weeks with my sons camping in the Giant Sequoia National Forest, swimming in clear rivers and waterfalls. It was my first vacation in over 4 years.

Sorry to hear you are having trouble, as was mentioned it does not sound like the color is the problem.

If you are using a standard buttercream icing using regular shortning you need to increase the mixing time. Mix sifted sugar slowly to the shortning and continue mixing until completely blended. The white spots are called shortning blooms and the color cannot penetrate them. Shortning blooms often are invisable at first and will appear as the surface layer oxidises and dries.

another kind of white spot is called a sugar bloom it occurs when the sugar crystalizes on top of the color, usually associated with too much water

I have also seen spots caused by a cake or cookie drawing the moisture out of the icing faster where the icing is thinner.

it most likely sounds like you need to increase your mixing time

Fondant:

Fondant is harder to color as most of you have found out, you have to knead the color in and it does not take as well as say BC. To avoid stickiness put some shortning on your hands The Candy Colors will color it but even less effectively than the gels, Major manufacutures of colored fondant use AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste. Then again you could always airbrush the fondant and avoid all the mixing

When our colors were formulated they were tested on standard BC incing and have not yet been tested on 0 trans shortning, but testing is scheduled for this summer and we will pass along any information we find.

Did we miss anything?
Please let me know
Jim

Hi Jim--thanks for the reply. I used a store brand shortening with trans fat, so that's not the problem. Also, I added the sifted ps very slowly (with mixer on low) over a period of about 20-30 minutes--longer than I've ever done before--using the Wilton recipe, double for 2# ps. I mixed it so long because I recently bought a can of Wilton icing and couldn't believe the wonderful, smooth texture and was hoping to replicate it. However, I did mix the color by hand. It's possible that it was a ps bloom since I did use the full amount of water; this was for my daughter's first cake and I wanted it to be easy for her to spread. Would milk be a better choice rather than water? It also could have been a thin spot. I'll ask her to check since the poor cake has been in her 'frig still waiting to be eaten!

Water or Milk should not make any difference at all since milk is mostly water and the color will assimilate evenly and bond at the molecular level.

You know I also got that speckled effect with the Wilton coloring. I did some Dora cookies and when I took them out of the freezer they had brown speckles all over her face and they arent freckles!
I used RI and it was all perfect when they set out for a day to harden before I stuck them in the fridge. I bet there is something else is going on here.