I got an order today for halloween cakes. The order is from the hospital I used to work at, I do the cakes for their catering functions. Last year they ordered 3 halloween cakes, same thing this year. But, when she ordered it, she asked if I could not put any licorice flavouring in the black icing. Ok, except I've never put licorice flavour into anything??!?!?! Apparently it overpowered the cake last year. Again, ok, but why wait a whole year to tell me this? Anyone else heard of black icing tasting like licorice?? Please help!

I haven't heard of it referred to specifically as licorice, but I have heard the term "bitter" bandied about..........

I buy my black fondant pre-colored and it's not bitter at all.

For black buttercream, if it's a large amount (not just accents, borders, etc.), I start with chocolate, if possible, make it very brown & then turn it black. If the flavor can't be chocolate, I'll add brown color first and then black.

HTH
Rae

i've never heard of licorice-flavoured icing, but you can buy licorice flavouring from www.lorannoils.com.

that wilton black icing color tastes like poisin...

i use the decopac gel color...it's better, but i can still taste it.

if they want a large amount of the cake black, i airbrush it....i just do the details with black tinted icing....a lot of people use chocolate icing for black, then you don't have to use as much coloring.

I heard also that you can use grape Koolaid the purple in it helps a lot and cherry or strawberry Koolaid for the red just add the dry packet to your liquids before adding them to your icing.

I also add purple and brown coloring befor adding the black...
Hope this helps as well.

Anise flavoring tastes like licorice......

Thanks for all the replies! Sorry, I haven't been getting notifications for some reason...
I'll just have to taste it this time around I guess! LOL! I usually start out with chocolate, so maybe cocoa mixed with the Wilton Black ends up tasting like licorice!
Thanks again,