I am very new at caking. I want to try to make different unique cake flavors like, butterscotch cake, lemon, key lime, coffee/cappuccino, well, I know there are a lot of different flavors out there but I was wondering, does anyone use Candy Oils or Candy Flavors in cakes or frostings to get the desired cake or frosting flavor? Say, someone wants a Raspberry frosting, should I just substitute the vanilla or almond flavor for the Raspberry Candy Oil? What about extracts? My favorite frosting is a Crusting Buttercream. I like the frostings that crust because I can smooth them out very nicely after they crust. I want to stick with this recipe for that reason and just change it up a bit (omit the almond flavor and add the candy oil or other flavor extract) for when I need a different flavor.  I only have made yellow, white, and chocolate cakes from box cake mixes because my made from scratch yellow cake recipe tasted like cornbread, and it was much less expensive for me to use the box cake mixes. So having said all of this, can anyone point me in the right direction? I am really looking for this to be easy but I have a feeling it is going to take some extensive testing and work to figure out what I am doing! HELP HELP PLEASE! lol This newbie needs some help! lol :) Thanks in advance!

A....... Candy oils in frosting to change the flavor ? Has anyone tried this? What about extracts? Thank you so much!

Well, just try it! I wouldn't use the Wilton candy oils, they are nasty! Try the natural ones, if you can find them. The artificial may be fine for candy, but I would never put it in a cake or icing, if I didn't have to.

AOk ok thank you I'm just not that confident yet I really don't know what I'm doing. The candy oils I was looking at were not Wilton's. I don't care much for Wilton's products myself either, if I can avoid it I try other brands first cuz I've had bad experiences with Wilton's stuff. I suppose I will go ahead and try, but I'm just afraid it will turn out bad and then I will have wasted the money and time for nothing.. But on the other hand if it does turn out good, then I reckon it will be totally worth it.

YES.  LorAnn Oils are great in cake and icing.

You can buy them in dram size (1 teaspoon) very cheap for testing.  Then you buy 1 ounce or 4 ounce for economy (and get dropper tops with the larger bottles, have to be ordered separately but are permanent).

I like Silver Cloud, too. They take forever to ship, though. They have "natural flavor blends" that are amazing. 

ACheck out Olive Nation. Great flavors, and they don't bake out.

AOk great! Thank you all so much! I ReALLY appreciate the pointers because I Am really new at this, so thank God for you all on CC. I want to be a professional someday :) but I have such a loong way to go still. Again, thank you thank you! I am going to try LorAnns candy oils :)