A Very Nasty Dilemma Help!!!!!
Decorating By somerset Updated 14 Dec 2006 , 10:33pm by playingwithsugar
A friend of my niece ask if I would do a half sheet red velvet with white BC, pink border with swirl flowers on it for his 18 birthday. I did the cake and it came out very pretty however the birders and the letters tasted horrible. I used a bottle of red food coloring when it didn't get pink enough I used a couple of drops of red acteco gel paste. I had to leave before he came over to pick up the cake. My Dh said that he was pleased with the way it look and he paid him for. When I got home I finished cleaning up my mess. I accidently got some the this pink icing on my hand and thought OMG that's so nasty, 
it was so nasty I'm surprised he didn't come back later on in the evening and demand his money back. 
I' so embarressed by it, I didn't call him to ask how did it go with the cake
because I have a nasty feeling about it even while I type 
. I want to know what could have happened to the icing. I know about the no-taste red I didn't think to use it because he wanted pink not red duh. Can someone tell me who else beside wilton makes the no taste red.
I don't ever want to make that mistake again, what other color will have that nasty bitter taste in it beside red, black and purple?
Pink, and the hotter it is, the worse the taste. But you know, I found out that not everyone can taste that dye taste. I'm VERY sensitive to it, but DH and my best friend don't taste it AT ALL. Weird, huh? Maybe he's in the category that doesn't taste it at all...
All dark colors have a bitter taste due to the incress of tint used to make those colors. I have found that when doing those colors I add a pinch of cinnamon - yes cinnamon- to the icing to cut the taste of bitter. It does help.
You said you used a bottle of red food coloring...was it the liquid kind that you buy in the store?
I don't think that adding a few drops of gel paste would have made it taste bad. It only happens when you add a lot of the gel paste on red, brown, or black. Even then, I don't think it tastes terrible.
Maybe it was the original red that you used that made it taste off.
My niece does a lot of children's cakes, and we have found that, with the exception of the Americolor Electric Pink, the easiest way to achieve hot pink is to use Wilton Christmas Red, get it about 2 shades lighter than the color you want, then let it sit overnight. It does not take much color gel this way, and trust me, it is Bright!
Theresa 
Americolor makes very good gel colors. I haven't noticed a major taste change when making dark colors with this brand. There is a slight change, but not noticeable to most.
More than likely your customer didn't taste it unless they had a really big piece of cake with a lot of the frosting on it. Many times people don't like a lot of frosting and take the off the borders anyway. Maybe you can hope for that.
If they order again, they will let you know if they noticed the taste. I wouldn't worry about it. There's nothing you can do about that cake now anyway.
Michele
Just a little tip -
I always take a little taste my icings before applying to the cake, especially when coloring is added. I use ice cream spoons - the kind you get when you buy Dixie cups of ice cream. They are available in restaurant supply stores.
Theresa
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