Hopefully someone can make me feel better, I am doing this cake pictured, only its not stacked, just seperated tiers. I havent had a ton of luck with wedding cakes. The cake is to be picked up tomarrow (fri.), the wedding isnt till sat. I am letting the cakes thaw out in the fridge so they dont sweat. before I am doing the black. But I did do one already that was in the freezer crumb iced, I iced it over and then did the black, now I am worried I should have waited.
I use buttercream (crusting). And whats with the black frosting almost looking like its breaking down while your using it?? Is it from the warmth of my hands on the bag?? I may just be freaking myself out or something. thanks to anybody that reads this and gives me some feedback! heres the pic of what im doing....

I don't know if I'm of much help, but I just did my own wedding cake, but it was covered in fondant, and then I used black royal icing to decorate with. I never put it in the 'fridge or anything though. But maybe if yours is covered in buttercream that would be better for you?

Anyway, good luck & try not to be too nervous! I'm sure it'll come out fine!

Since you have to use a lot of color to get black, it does tend to get mushier - any way possible to start w/ chocolate bc instead of white? If so, it will cut down on how much color you have to use.

Another thing I've learned is to make your colors (especially black and red) a day or at least several hours before you need them. With black, if you'll just stop adding color once it turns charcoal grey, it'll turn black in a few hours. I always doubt this will happen, but do it anyway and it ALWAYS turns black! That also cuts down on how much color you need, which is a big plus.

Last but not least, after you pipe your tier, let it sit out for an hour or so. This allows the black to sort of dry or set up and will help with the feathering/bleeding that sometimes happens.

Since I've started doing these things, I sleep at night - something I never did much of whenever I had a cake w/ black piping! If you go to my pics and look at this one, http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1251486, you'll see an example.

Best of luck to you!

I have heard that Americolor doesn't bleed like the Wilton colors, and so far this seems to be true for me. Make sure your icing is dry and you will have a better chance of the color not bleeding.

If you are using "crusting" icing, I assume you have used meringue powder? If so, that will prevent the bleeding of color. The only problem may be the refrigerator?