Does anyone know how to get dark green buttercream? Not dark like hunter green but a really good grassy green? I just ruined a huge mixer full of buttercream because I couldn't get the color I wanted ( it looked like a mint green) and put so much dang coloring in, it tasted nasty. Now this cake I had been planning for 2 weeks is basically going in the trash. I was sending it with my hubby to a party thing tomorrow, I have no ingredients left, so I am done. I spend all day baking 3 cakes, made 3 batches of frosting, got to the green and screwed the whole thing up. I am now defeated, but would like to know for next time. If there is a next time. I feel so defeated that I don't even feel like making another cake again.

Thanks for listening to my rant and anytips on the color would be appreciated!

Do you not think you can salvage the icing at all? I didn't think the coloring would alter the taste of the icing. I have never had that happen. Don't be discouraged, believe me we have all had disasters....Do you still have the icing? What about adding some extra vanilla or butter flavor the mask the dye taste? Do you have any white coloring? That would lighten your icing.
When I want a darker grass green, I add some forest green to it. HTH

What kind of coloring were you using? I've never found that green icing color added that much flavor. I had to make an entire batch of green for a large cake and used almost a whole bottle of Wilton leaf green. It came out a nice dark green with not much flavor change that I could notice.

You do know that it will dry a shade or two darker also. What you think is mint color, might dry darker than you think.

Don't lose hope, maybe it is not the coloring you are tasting.

We all have bad cake days! Pick yourself up and try again. Try making just a half cup of icing into the shade you want to see how much dye it will take, taste it, and spread some on a white plate to dry for a half hour or so. You will see it darken.

You have gotten good advice. I hope you did not really trash a huge mixer full of icing!! It really can't be that bad. Flavoring can be added to over come color tastes.
Also as was said, it will darken as it sits - overnight is best
Blue and yellow make green in the right amounts.

I never had issues with the green from Wilton. But if you want to save some time and color,
do the crumbcoat in white then the second coat in the color you are using, that way you dont have to use as much color in one cake.

As for a beautiful green, you can use a moss green from wilton, and if you need it more brigther then add leaf green. But the leaf green is too bright for my taste.
Edna

Thanks everyone! yeah, I did trash the icing. Just didn't work out for me. I tried using Americolor first, then wilton, what a nightmare. I don't know what was going wrong. I wanted a bright green grass look. I have gotten the color before. I am starting to wonder if it was the icing recipe that could have changed how the color took? I dunno. Anyhow, will learn from this and move on! Yeah, it tasted gross, I used tons of color, after a while it became like a science experiment for me.! LOL!

http://www.candylandcrafts.com/colorchart.htm

That's weird! I find green to be a strong color, esp the leaf green...it doesn't take as much green to get a bright color as maybe red or black. Sorry you had the problems!

The only time I had trouble with nasty icing is using Crisco shortening...sometimes I would open the can and it would smell like chemicals...and so did my icing. I now use generic shortening and avoid that problem.

oh, my cousin told me about a tip for black that should work just the same with this..... cover the cake in white buttercream as usual. then make a small batch of green. it will be slightly more soft because of the coloring adding. put a thin layer of green over the white. hope it works. i havent tried it yet, but the theory sounds good all the best.

Next time, you try coloring a small bit of the icing until you get the color you want. Then you get an idea of the amount and ratio of each color.

Sorry this happened to you. I know it's very frustrating.

I always find that you have to let colors sit for awhile for them to become darker. Red may look pink when I go to bed, but when I wake in the morning, it is often red. Same with blue and green.