I have a cake due tomorrow and it's not working out. The cake needs to be all red. I added and added and added red gel coloring and it pretty much stayed pink. I used two whole jars of coloring and now it tastes like garbage. It's like the buttercream wouldn't hold enough color. I have to start over again. How in the world can I get my buttercream red?!!
I am begging for help!
Are you using Wilton colors? It is very hard to get red. Americolor makes a good red, but it still takes a lot.
Sometimes if you wait, the color will darken, unfortunately, it won't fix the taste.
Wilton No Taste red shouldn't have that bad aftertaste, and I guess Americolor doesn't either. I hope you can run to Wal Mart or a cake store really early tomorrow and find a no-taste coloring!
Good luck!
How much red do you need? I'm not sure why this is, but my own personal experience has been that it's easier to color small batches of buttercream red, then large batches. In other words, I could color 1/2 cup red, but not 2 cups. So, maybe you could color small batches and then mix them together? What color are you using? If it's Wilton, then you HAVE to use the no-tase red. You will never get red without it, the christmas red and the red-red will only turn a dark pink.
There are a few things you can do. Use something that's pink or red as your liquid, kool-aid, cranberry juice, beet juice, or pomegranite juice. Use some pink gel coloring to get the icing a deep pink and then start adding the no-taste red. (Sorry I don't know the americolor equivalent).
The other option would be to use the spray color and spray it red. If you use the wilton sprays use several light coats being sure to let it dry inbetween. You can also buy the red icing in a tube although it doesn't taste very good and I wouldn't want to use it if you're covering a big area, but it does help to mix it in with your own icing to achieve a better color red.
I never can get my red to be red enough - so I just buy it from the store. Wilton makes red icing as well as some others. I have heard that adding Kool-Aid can help and there are "no taste" red color that will help with the flavor....
Sorry I can't be more help!! Good luck!!
I color mine hot pink, then add americolor super red and it comes out pretty good!
~Chelle
To get the elmo red for my elmo cake I used about a large jar and a half to color it (approx. a whole batch of buttercream). It did need some time to "cure" to get the full red and it actually got deeper after it crusted over. It was a very deep "pinky red" when I used it and if you look at my pics you can see it is red.
HTH
Judi
Judi
Have you tried adding a little bit of cocoa? I find that if I need a dk red this will help with not only the color, but the flavor as well.
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