So, this weekend I was a little prepared for the wedding cake I was about to decorate. A three tiered cake that had a white bottom with black scrolls, the middle a VERY dark red tier that was quilted, and the top tier white with red and black stripes. The bottom part I THOUGHT I did correctly I frosted the cake with crusting buttercream and let it set for at least 30 mins and then I started piping the scroll work in black on. Well...what I thought I was doing didn't work...the black frosting STILL bled luckily this was a gift and it sort of looked like a shadow on the cake (mind you it was very dark in the hall and the bride couldn't even see it with all the candles around it) But I am soooo scared to keep doing this combination if I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I used Americolor and black is the only thing that always gives me troubles.

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

What icing did you use for the scrollwork?

Was it very warm and/or humid during or after you piped the scrolls?

Rae

ALSO I decided to decorate in my mother's wonderful air conditioned house...so, my cake wasn't even sweating

Was the black icicng buttercream or royal? I've read that people add meringue powder when making the darker colors to help w/ bleeding.

I do a lot of cookies and love to use the Americolors. I add some white-white to the icing before I add coloring, and this helps me a lot w/ bleeding.

So frustrating! Good luck!

I used the same frosting...crusting buttercream. It was not hot/humid in this house because the AC has been on for over a week! (but I do live in a humid area)

Thank you for the advice Monet...I might have to try the suggestions you have listed

Well, not all air conditioners dehumidify well, or at all.

I think that the surface of the cake wasn't really dry enough.

JMHO
Rae

I talked once to chefmaster company about this issue and they said that some companies make colors that do bleed a lot. He assured me that this didnt happened with their colors. And I have to say that It never happened again
Edna

I use americolor and the only time I have problems is with humidity and the cakes are wet and I just let them dry well and don't have a problem. Well, not counting this past weekend...arrrggghhh Humidity and heat were HORRIBLE!

See, that is the thing...my cake was fine and dry. I know I live in a humid area but there wasn't any condensation on the cake and I had let it sit long enough to crust up and even patted it one more time before doing the scrollwork to make sure. :p