Hi everyone! I am attempting to do my first BCT for my daughter's 2nd birthday cake, the theme is Elmo. I am having a difficult time getting a deep red, any suggestions?

If you are using wilton red, good luck....uhmmm actually with most wilton colors you have to let them sit a little bit to deepen in color. Maybe try adding a little black and see what happens.

When I did Elmo on a sheet cake, I combined Christmas Red and No-Taste Red until I got what I thought was a good color. Then I let it sit overnight to make sure as the colors haved a tendency to deepen as they sit.

I have already used quite a bit of both of those reds, guess I will leave it over night and see how that turns out. Thanks

KrazyKross that is a pretty cake!

I don't like using red...... takes too much of wilton color!! I mix mine too but I usually wind up using 2 bottles. That's why I know use americolor. There great!!

I've done 2 of the Elmo cakes now, and each time have used about 1/2 bottle of the no taste Red to get the color I want. One of my cakes is posted on my pictures if you want to see what you think. Someone suggested starting with pink icing first, but I've never tried it. Good luck!

Americolor is by far the best to use to get reds or blacks needed. If using the Wilton color, it just takes a whole lot of it to get the red you'll need. And letting it set, that really works too!

Hello there.
Reds need to sit a lillte bit cause they get darker with time.
I was told that the best thing to do is to put small amouts of red for 7 days.
A little bit sunday , a little bit monday etc...And it works. I had to do the same thing to get my icing black ( if you look at my only picture , I made a BCT of Elvis ) But only had 3 days to tint mi icing. A tip for black , put cocoa powder in your icing. It will help a lot. How mutch ? For me until my icing tasted like chocolate.
Hope this helps you.

Annie

Hi everyone-

Thanks for all of your replies. There are some really good suggestions. Since I already started with the wilton I guess I will keep adding more of the no taste red. Luckily the party isn't until Saturday, so I have a few days for the icing to sit. Hopefully it will work out! I am definitely going to buy the Americolor for next time! I will let you know how it turns out.

Thanks again!

Actually... I found even letting it sit doesnt do much... this was the first time I had a problem with getting the color I needed.... the apple cupcakes I did and posted werent red, they looked more like pink..... adding black just makes it go maroon....

WHERE DO YOU GET AMERICOLOR?

sugarcraft!!!!

I also have fun with red!! Is there a better icing to use to achieve a good red?

red is such a pain to get. i just added alittle bit of black and mine turned out. hope it helps

just wondering how the cake turned out.

Adding to this...Earlene Moore sells a red coloring paste that is supposed to achieve a very deep red color http://www.earlenescakes.com/store/colors.html scroll down all the way to the bottom of the screen, she's used it to achieve really deep red color roses