Black Icing Bleeding Into White Icing

Decorating By heather1 Updated 3 Sep 2007 , 2:11am by Erika513x2

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heather1 Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 7:13pm
post #1 of 16

Does anyone know how to prevent black icing from fading(pink to red tint) into my white icing. Done a cake for a customer last night and this morning there was a pink to reddish tint all aroung where the back icing was. Is there a way to prevent this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

15 replies
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Erika513x2 Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 7:19pm
post #2 of 16

i had the same issue before and threw it in the fridge.
do you have your cake out? b/c you might have to put it in th fridge. GL

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justsweet Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 7:20pm
post #3 of 16

What brand are you using?

I stopped using wilton due to the colors bleed.

I have been using Americolor for the last three years and have no bleeding or fading problem with any of the colors.

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heather1 Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 7:33pm
post #4 of 16

Yes I had my cake sitting out. Did it help by putting it in the fridge?
I used the Americolor brand.

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gailjoe Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 8:10pm
post #5 of 16

i've had the same issue, hope someone can help you and some of us too. i've een had it to happen with the red. gail

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avenje Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 8:14pm
post #6 of 16

With me, I've noticed that it happens on the 2nd day, even though it's been refrigerated the whole time. I always figured it was the moisture in the fridge that made it bleed.

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Omicake Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 8:55pm
post #7 of 16

Justsweet,

What buttercream recipe do you use?I was wondering if the bleeding problem was due to the recipe used. And you have a hot climate in California and surprisingly , no bleeding problem.

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SugarFrosted Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 8:59pm
post #8 of 16

When I first started making cakes I would mix all my colors right before I needed to use them. That usually meant using a LOT of some food colors, like red and black. That also usually meant if I decorated any amount of time early, the colors would bleed, because there was so much. I even had a Santa cake literally bleed red liquid the day after it was cut.

These days I mix my rich colors, red, black, royal, at least 2 days ahead, and then let them sit to saturate. The frosting has time to better absorb the color and you can use a lot less to achieve the shade you want. That does mean stopping at not quite the shade you want when mixing. You can always add more, but it is really difficult to take it out if you use too much color.

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tracycakes Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 9:07pm
post #9 of 16

I also let mine sit. I also make sure that my cake is crusted well (if using buttercream) and decorate with those colors as late as possible.

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heather1 Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 9:15pm
post #10 of 16

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I really do appreciate it. My BC consist of crisco, sugar, water,popcorn salt, and flavoring.

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heather1 Posted 31 Aug 2007 , 9:18pm
post #11 of 16

Does letting your icing set for a couple days stop the bleeding or helps it not to as much?

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SugarFrosted Posted 1 Sep 2007 , 12:20am
post #12 of 16

Allowing the icing to sit after you have added the food color allows the color to deepen, to absorb into or saturate throughout the icing. You can use a lot less icing color this way, which keeps it from bleeding as much.

I have found that if the cake gets warm, a darker color will bleed more easily into an adjacent lighter color icing, no matter how careful you are. So keep those decorated cakes cool. However, I don't advocate refrigeration because the colors will sometimes run if the cake sweats in warm weather after it has been cold. Experience is a great teacher.

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campbelland Posted 1 Sep 2007 , 8:01pm
post #13 of 16

I have found if you sprinkle in some cocoa into your black it wont bleed, or it doesnt for me. Sandy

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annacakes Posted 3 Sep 2007 , 1:00am
post #14 of 16

As a Wilton Instructor, I was taught recently that using Wilton Meringue Powder in the icing you cover the cake with will inhibit this "bleeding" you experience. At the bakery I worked at, (we didn't use M.Powder) and even when the cakes were kept constantly in the fridge there was still the color bleed if the decorating colors were strong. Try the meringue powder in your buttercream next time and see if it helps.

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nikki1201 Posted 3 Sep 2007 , 1:10am
post #15 of 16

Meringue powder definitely does the trick! I've never had a bleeding problem with the recipe i use, which I found on this site:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2124-93-White-As-Snow-Buttercream.html

...ecept one time when i tried something i saw on a cooking show where this woman put one drop of food coloring on the inside of the pastry bag and when she piped a white buttercream through it, it just had a hint of color on one of the edges of a shell border. I'd seen this effect on bake-shop cakes and wanted to try. she made it look easy, but i guess i should have practiced a bit first because it got a huge drop of red food color right on the top of my cake. icon_sad.gif

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Erika513x2 Posted 3 Sep 2007 , 2:11am
post #16 of 16

I always use the wilton bc recipie for most of my cakes and when I do my black i start it a wek prior. The past couple ofcakes I've done that have had black have had the bleeding problem and it was the first time its happened to me. The only trend I see was the heat b/c the house doen't have central ac.

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