Well, this was a first for me. I was making a fresh batch of icing tonight - using Sugarshacks recipe. As I was letting the icing mix for the 6-10 minutes I added 2 drops of Americolor brown and probably 1/8 teaspoon of Wilton ivory to the icing mix so I could get a dark ivory color for this icing. I let it finish and when I started putting it on the cake - there were the speckles.

I didn't think it looked too bad - it is not noticeable from 4 feet away . . . so I just kept using it. I probably should have thrown it out and started over now that I am sitting here talking about it!!

Anyhow - DH and I started looking at it and noticed that there was some of the dark brown Americolor on the side of the bowl kind of stuck to some powdered sugar - could it have flaked off from this? I intentionally drop the food coloring into the center of the bowl next to the beaters, but I guess it threw it to the outside of the mixture as it was turning.

Forgive the blurry spot - I didn't notice that until I uploaded the photos. The wedding colors are brown with burnt orange. This cake was really hard to make - with the fall colors and living in 100 degree temps with 100% humidity today - it's definitely not fall weather here at all!!

Plus - there will be a brown bow placed on the cake before delivery in the bare spot in the upper left hand corner.

Thanks for looking and hopefully someone can help me solve this speckling problem.

Suzycakes

i don't really know what the cause of speckling is, but i do know that i usually drop my americolor into the bowl before i turn on the mixer, and i don't get speckles. so did you put it in while the mixer was on? if so that could be the problem....

Yes - the mixer was running when I dropped in the coloring. That could be the problem. I also should have added that with Sugarshacks recipe you add the hot/warm creamer mix into the shortening the icing was slightly warm when I added the coloring. Could that have caused the speckling?

I add coloring right into the bowl while the icing is warm and have not had this problem. i scrape down the sides almost constantly however. I have had Wilton colors speckle when used in Fondant.

Did you make your border from the same icing, because I don't see the speckles in your border icing, but it appears to be the same color. From the picture it just looks like cake crumbs....I could be wrong, but that's what it looks like, and I'm sure it's not, but I just thought I'd throw it out there...

No it isn't cake crumbs - it was definitely in the icing after I mixed in the color using the mixer. If it was cake crumbs I definitely would have removed it and started over.

I asked a friend of mine to look at the cake once I delivered who is quite knowledgeable about cakes and decorating and crafts in general and she said it looked like I had done it as part of the decorating and trying to incorporate the brown into the theme.

Also when I took a small sample of icing in my fingers and smooshed it the spot would smear and be brown - so it was definitely the icing which just didn't incorporate well into the icing mixture.

Thanks for looking -- I just won't combine two different types of food coloring the next time - wilton and americolor.

it really did look like it was supposed to be that way, like vanilla bean icecream, i think you did a good job, it's very cute!

I'm more inclined to think your Wilton Ivory (paste??) color is the problem.
If it was paste color & on the dry side it definately could have caused such a problem. Similar has happened to me in the past.

Suzycakes....is the Americolor icing a powder? I have never used that particular brand, but I have used another powdered type color and had the same thing happen to the icing. After that, I decided only gel colors for me!!! Also, I try to leave my icing sitting for a few hours before using it to decorate.

I have still had speckling problems occasionally with gels, but I figured out the gel had begun to dry out somewhat and I needed to give it more time to liquify. Initially I mix my color, seal it tightly in a bowl, and let it sit for a few hours before I return to the bowl again for another few minutes of mixing. This has seemed to help alleviate any speckles of darker color. I am a huge fan of Wilton gel colors....this product has proven itself to me over and over again. Hope this helps!!!

Suzian Cunningham
www.suzianscakes.com

Thanks for all of the responses.

Both colors were gel pastes. The Wilton was the ivory and the Americolor was the brown - so it was the americolor that didn't mix in. I still have some left over and just checked it and all of the specks have incorporated into the icing.

Hopefully I won't have this problem again, but if I do - I do hope I have the time to let it set and dissolve into the icing.

I had this problem with some blue wilton coloring. I just figured it was old or needed some glycerine added to it. I have never had that problem before.