Hi everyone,

I just made a cake for my niece's birthday, which is tomorrow. When I opened the jar of one of my icing colors, I discovered some old icing in there (I'm usually careful not to put any in, but oh well). I removed the icing color that had old icing in it and a lot of color around it, and used untouched color to make my cake.

However, now I'm worried that bacteria could have spread to the seemingly good icing and have contaminated it. The cake is done.

I don't use real buttercream, but cake shop-purchased icing which can be left out of the fridge for very long periods of time.

What do you think? Think it'll be good anyway? Or do I have good reason to worry?

Thank you,
Julie

I wouldn't worry. The buttercream doesn't have anything in it that would go bad... shortening can go rancid which could cause a slimy taste but that small an amount wouldn't effect the overall taste in your entire batch of buttercream. Unless you saw mold growing, it's good.

Thank you for your answer! I'll post again if we're still alive in 24 hours.

Seriously, thank you!