I REALLY DON'T HAVE TOO MUCH TROUBLE GETTING A GOOD RED. I ALWAYS USE WILTON'S NO TASTE RED. WHEN YOU GET THE ICING A GOOD WATERMELON COLOR IT WILL TURN RED, RED ON THE CAKE AFTER THE ICING CRUSTS.
IT ALWAYS WORKS FINE FOR ME.
REMEMBER NOT TO MIX UP TOO MUCH ICING AT ONE TIME AS IT WILL TAKE MUCH MORE COLORING TO GET THE COLOR YOU WANT.
GOOD LUCK!
Some people use cherry kool-aid! It has a tart flavor, but it gives a good base for the red food coloring to take. Good luck to you. There's a post on here somewhere with many people that have used this method.
Use the Wilton Christmas Red. It works much better than just the red. 
Some people use cherry kool-aid! It has a tart flavor, but it gives a good base for the red food coloring to take. Good luck to you. There's a post on here somewhere with many people that have used this method.
Thanks, I've heard of doing that before, but never tried it. But it works okay?
According to the post on the forum here. I was trying to find it, but couldn't. Sorry!! I'll keep looking and post the link here.
I tried the Cherry Kool-Aid method and it was quite tart, which I didn't like. But the next day, the icing started to "spot" (for lack of a better word) - it got white spots on the red.
For the clown cake I just did, I tinted using Wilton Pink and got it a nice Hot Pink, then added the No Taste Red. It took much less of both doing this technique.
Also, try making the red ahead of time, the day before if you can. Buttercream colors darken when they set.
Here's the link. Alaskanmom did a clown cake. She seemed to like the result. Anyway, a lot of opinions about it are on the post.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=31102&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0
Pokadots, I'm in the slow process of an expierment with red icing.Hoping to find a recipe that doesn't taste bad. That is the main problem with red and black icing. To date I have only used Wilton colors. (I did say slow process. 
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For 1cup of a true red color; I used 1 tube of Wilton Decorator Icing, to 1cup of Wilton class BC, then added Wilton No Taste Red Icing Color (concentrated paste) a little at a time till color was achieved. Results were: 1cup of red icing that worked good in a parchment bag, with no disturbance to the BC flavor.
I do know too, that if you add any red Kool-aid, to your icing it brings about a nice red color, with flavor. This is a recipe you have to judge as you go.
A lot of C.C.er's swear by Americolors red, but I haven't used it yet.
My expierment continues, so this is all I have to offer for now. HTH 
Gloria I
A very easy solution to your red and black needs: AMERICOLOR-SUPER RED AND SUPER BLACK!!!!! Once you use these you will question what took you so long! The Americolors are truley amazing. I will never buy another jar of wilton again unless I am desperate. It's a matter of a few squirts to using the whole jar of wilton. Other people say they start with pink or orange but with the americolors I've never had to do that. I made red mmf with no problems. You can see it in my pics-2 side cakes to the big wedding cake. True red color and no bitter taste!
AmeriColor: Super Red. It is a soft gel paste food color that really works. Think, Spider-man outfit red. The icing color deepens even more as it sets. I buy it at my local cake decorating store, but of course you can buy it online also.
I agree with the Americolor lovers. I have always been loyal to Wilton ... until the last couple months. I got tired of using SO MUCH Wilton color to get red and black icing, so I decided to try Americolor Super Red and Super Black (thanks to all of the recommendations from this site!). I will NEVER go back to Wilton!! Americolor ROCKS!!!!! 
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