I am making a lemon pound cake (shaped like a wine bottle) with lemon buttercream frosting. I need my frosting to be a "red wine" color. I am having problems getting the color right. Is it possible that the color is reacting with the acidity of the lemon? Any suggestions??? Thank you, Cheryl

I had the same problem with lemon BC when I tried to colour it purple... kept changing to blue. I tried using lemon extract rather than real lemon juice and it didn't help--over time it went blue as well. I finally gave up and changed the colour... so I'd be interested to know if you find a solution. I was ready to scream it was so frustrating!!

I had a science project going on in my kitchen this morning. Apparently the lemon in lemon buttercream reacts to colors but I finally got a "close to burgandy" and hopefully it will work for what I need. I'll get approval from my client tomorrow on the color. In my attempt to make burgandy, I discovered mixing different colors with lemon buttercream you gives you the following: Black makes teal; burgandy makes brown; pink makes light rose; "barney" purple makes purple; brown makes gray; copper makes apricot; blue stays blue, yellow stays yellow, orange stays orange; maroon makes burgandy; and red makes salmon.

Also, I tried air-brushing to see if that would react to the lemon and it did not. The air-brushed colors stay true to color. Lesson learned ... when coloring lemon buttercream, make sure you test your colors in advance.

Cheryl

Lemon is a bleach, that's why you are having problems. I have used lemon juice to bleach the red from raw beets off my hands after peeling them.