I'm making a ladybug cake for my niece for her 1st birthday party with fondant. I wanted to make a smash cake for her as well. How do I get my icing black, black? Whenever I try to do it it always turns out dark grey. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Americolor gel color in Super Black will be your best friend. It is great - I get black black icing starting from regular old white BC. Best stuff ever (and their Super Red is great too).

Sugarflair out of the UK has a Black Extra gel that really works in my b/c, though it gets blacker as it sets, so I make it the night before I need it.

I started w/ chocolate frosting and tinted it black w/ wilton black.... I hated it! I got a really great black color, but it took a lot to get it there! And the frosting had a really bitter taste to it. I was considering just buying the prmade black frosting in the tubes next time because it was such a small amount I needed. But, I'm not sure how it tastes though.

I do have to admit that Americolor is the best! I used it today red and got the color I wanted right away w/o using a lot!

I agree with Homemade-Goodies

I always make mine a few hours or the night before I am going to use it. If it is dark dark grey... it will turn black.

Americolor is what I use.. .but have done the same with the Wilton black gel color too.

Good luck

I always melt my own chocolate and put it into white buttercream, and then add the Wilton black icing. It will still take a bit more color, but the taste won't be as bitter as using just buttercream or buttercream with cocoa.

I SWEAR by Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge frosting! I ALWAYS use it for black. Only thing is you cannot pipe stars with it because it's too thin. I pipe it on and smooth it out with a tiny spatula. Look at some of my pics and see if it looks black to you!

ahhh I have done it too with dh chocolate icing... I just adde more powdered sugar to thicken it up.

If you don't necessarily want chocolate icing, you can always tint it dark brown first.