I am making a cake that is supposed to be dark blue like the night sky and need help with the coloring...what is the best way to get a deep dark blue?

I have never done it on purpose but I did achieve a midnight blue when I was trying to make a dark gray lol. I used some black and thought it needed something else so added a tinge of sky blue to the gray (the only blue paste I had on hand) and got midnight blue.

Perhaps someone else with more expertise can answer this better but it's at least a start. You could try tinting a small amount first and see what works. HTH.

I got that blue with royal blue and a little black to darken it's more of a navy blue. Almost the same.

I do the same..royal blue and some black...works like a charm!
Edna

Do you find that the buttercream is really thin after you add all of the color? Should I just start with a thinker frosting in anticipation of the thinning? The cake will 3 rounds 14, 10, and 6 and I want to make sure the color is rich enough, and that it will be sturdy enough to get a good crust on it... I am using the wilton buttercream recipe...it has always done well for me in the past... any thoughts?

Yes is best to start with a thicker consistency of icing, the color will soften it a bit. On the other hand, being a darker color, makes for easier coverage on the cake.

Another way to save some time is to do the crumbcoat in regular white icing and then do the color in your second coat. That will save you some time and save you having so much color on your cake.

Edna

You could also airbrush it using midnight blue luster dust mixed with alcohol. That way you can avoid everyone having blue teeth. I did a cake depicting a wolf howling at the moon and had the midnight sky as background.

I bought Navy Blue color and with a little tweaking you can get a night color.

Should I be really worried that it will color teeth? I have used blues before and not had it stain anyones mouth... Now you guys have me worried... What have I gotten myself into?!? :0P

Anytime there's a dark color involved it usually shows up on tongue, lips & teeth temporarily. I don't think you need to worry about it though. It's one of those things that are just a fact of life sometimes people don't notice and sometimes they get a little giggle out of it.

And by the way when I said mix the luster dust with alcohol I really meant Vodka. We don't won't anybody using rubbing alcohol.

Thanks for all of your help... my friend ended up not wanting a blue cake. So we went with white buttercream and silver and blue stars. I think it turned out pretty good.

I looked in your gallery and saw your cake. Great job!!!

I like in a small town where the school colors are a real dark blue and YES they do tend to stain peoples mouths and teeth. I buy that dark blue food coloring by the box. I allways reccomend taht people take photos prior to eating the cake.

I live in a small town where the school colors are a real dark blue and YES they do tend to stain peoples mouths and teeth. I buy that dark blue food coloring by the box. I allways reccomend taht people take photos prior to eating the cake.

Thank you Elaine... and thanks again to everyone else who had a suggestion. I am sure I will be on here later with another cake CRISIS