This may be a dumb question but...
I have always used the wilton gels to color my icing, but I have to do a graduation cake that is navy and hunter green. The cake store only had these color in the americolor. What is the difference in amount. (more or less needed than wilton.) Please any info would help.
That is a good question; I would like to know myself.
I used the Americolor for the first time this past weekend and found that is took less of an amount to get the color I wanted.
I asked the question once about it tasting yucky like Wilton. Several replied that it has no taste, that is not true I was using the voilet and once I got it to the dark color I wanted I tasted it and it was horrible.
So I am thinging that they all have that horrible taste the darker you make the color.
Sorry to go off on a tangent
one way to alleviate that is for really dark colors start with a darker icing (meaning for dark purples and blacks I use a light chocolate icing and tint that - it takes some getting used to in figuring out how to get the color you want, but you'll get it right eventually). I think it only works for REALLY dark colors though.
Mix your kelly green with black to get hunter and your blue with black to get navy. Not sure how much you'll need of each color but that's what I've done.
Sorry about the Violet taste, I used the black, red and other colors and they were without taste.
And you don't have to put alot to get the color you want. I notice some colors even gets darker as the icing dries.
What I personally likes about it is that I don't have to messed up my hands with colors with the squeeze bottle.
I had a birthday cake made for my daughter a couple of years ago with the Unversity of South Carolina colors, being black and garnet.
The icing did not taste bad, but I did notice more of an almond flavor with the colored icing. So maybe add less liquid to replace the extra extract and that would help with the taste. Just a thought I am new at this and haven't tried it. I am waiting on my AmeriColors and I can hardly wait to decorate a cake. I am also waiting on a Magic Line 9 X13 pan and I am so excited about straight edges.
darkchocolate
IMO Americolors are by far better than the Wilton gels. You only need to use a small amount of Americolor to get rich vibrant colors!
A tip I learned to is to use milk in place of water in your icing ..it really helps when you are trying to achieve the darker colors!
I just purchased a whole heap of americolor based on the rave reviews and have been dissapointed.... while the variety of colour shades is appealing I still need to use heaps, i thought the benefit of americolor was that they took less..... mmm not sure .... could I have used them incorrectly..
karen
while the variety of colour shades is appealing I still need to use heaps,
karen
Karen, I have some Americolor pastes too. I'm happy with them, but I've never tried the Wilton ones so I can't compare.
How much do you mean by "heaps".
I just purchased a whole heap of americolor based on the rave reviews and have been dissapointed.... while the variety of colour shades is appealing I still need to use heaps, i thought the benefit of americolor was that they took less..... mmm not sure .... could I have used them incorrectly..
I have found to get the really dark colors, you still need to use a bit, but no where there amount you would use of Wilton gel. What automatically turned me on to Americolors was seeing a demo of them at the ICES convention last year and watching the demonstrator tint a bowl of white icing to red. SO little gel was needed to get a nice bright red and I would have had to use a half a jar of WIlton to even come close to that color. The colors do darken after sitting for awhile, so just do a little bit of color at a time and check on it later. If you need serious dark, at a TINY bit of brown or black.
I love americolor, you don't have to use a hundred toothpicks to get the right shade just a squeeze and you are ready. For my darker colors I mix them up ahead of time and let them darken.
I'm with you! I would use 8 or 9 toothpicks, dabbing more in to find the right wilton color. I love the sqeeze bottles! I think the colors use about the same amounts, except for red and black. You need much more to color with Wiltons red and black. I just made the switch myself. I bought a ton of colors from CC when they were on sale. The color selection with Americolor is GREAT. Even my DB said, " I love that color green you used on the butterfly" I was shocked! A man to notice that?! My DB is a hunter, fisher, aviation machanic, manly kinda man, he NEVER NOTICES stuff like that! I'm still in shock, and now hooked on Americolor.
If you want to start with a few to see how you like it, get the red and black.
I think I may have worded my post badly... sorry.
They are certainly better than many other brands that I have tried and I have now tried many.
I love the squeeze bottle, that makes things easy.
I guess I just thought I would get the dark colours or the colours on the bottle pretty easy and with minimal amount but was surprised to see how much I still needed.
I have found that sitting allows the colour to deepen and I have also found that mixing colours works well to... just got to be game to experiment.
I do like them.
karen
I use so many toothpicks that I thought about getting stock in the toothpick companies 
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That squeeze bottle from Americolor sounds very tempting. Too bad I can't but them locally.
I use so many toothpicks that I thought about getting stock in the toothpick companies
.That squeeze bottle from Americolor sounds very tempting. Too bad I can't but them locally.
Well you can get them right here at the Cake Central Store and help support your favorite Cake Community at the same time 
There was a thread about using Koolaid to help darken the red even darker. I have never tried it though.
I have only ever used Wilton since that's all that is available to me overseas. I do plan to try some of the Americolor though when I place a cake order.
Gosh I love this site! You girls are the fountain of knowledge.
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