How Do I Make Elmo Red Buttercream?

Decorating By Shazzana Updated 7 Jul 2007 , 5:28am by Stef43

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Shazzana Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 6:13pm
post #1 of 9

This morning i made my buttercream for the cupcakes for my son's birthday party tomorrow. I added yellow and then orange and then the red. but the butter cream looks like a salmon pink. when i saw that i added red food coloring to see if it would change it to red. i don't know what else i can do to make it go red. Any ideas? do i have to start over? i was using for the yellow, orange, and red rouge wilton gel colors and then i used regular food color. any way to salvage it?

8 replies
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azeboi2005 Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 6:20pm
post #2 of 9

i'd add some of the wilton red red color. when you get to a reddish shade and away from the pink let it sit. it tends to darken when it rests. then go back and add more color if need be. hth

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jadak Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 6:23pm
post #3 of 9

I'm not sure about salvaging it. If you look in my photos, I have several reds (a firetruck, a grill, some cookies...). For all of them I just added red coloring to my buttercream. I had to add pretty much for the deep red firetruck, but it did not change the icing's flavor.

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Shazzana Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 6:30pm
post #4 of 9

how much red do i have to use to get that red red? a whole 2 oz jar? this is what i used for my buttercream.

1 cup shortening
1 cup butter
2 tbsp vanilla
2 lb powder sugar
4 tbsp milk

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jadak Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 7:21pm
post #5 of 9

I'm sorry I can't give an exact measurement. I just put some in and stirred well and kept adding a little at a time until it was as red as I wanted it.

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miriel Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 7:54pm
post #6 of 9

This thread has a tip from Duff that might help you: http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-357113-red.html+duff

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awolf24 Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 8:06pm
post #7 of 9

Do you have access to Americolor? Americolor Super Red is the BEST! I used it for Elmo (in my pics) as well as all the fire dept. related cakes in my pics. Works great.

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Shazzana Posted 6 Jul 2007 , 8:18pm
post #8 of 9

thank you all for your help. i will try again the 3 color process and see what comes out. thanks ana

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Stef43 Posted 7 Jul 2007 , 5:28am
post #9 of 9

I just made an elmo cake last week for my girlfriend's daughter. Just do the red. Dont use yellow or orange. Mix in a good bit of red. Where it looks still pink. Let it sit for about an hour or so and you will be surprised at how red it gets! Good luck!

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