Any tips on getting red icing to be, well, RED?! I can't ever seem to make it happen and end up with an it-almost-looks-red red. I have to make an Elmo smash cake and need red icing. I've tried both Wilton Christmas Red and No Taste Red and have to use almost the whole dang container to get the color I need - yuck! What am I doing wrong? Why is red never red? I have to make this thing tomorrow night.
Thanks for any help! 
Start with pink icing, then add the red, it takes much less color. Also let your icing sit overnight before you use it - the color will deepen- hope this helps!!
i have the same problem so i usually find a grocery store willing to sell me some red icing or buy it from my local cake decorating store because after buying the three or four containers of no taste red it usually costs the same but i don't have to hassle 
I just made an elmo cake and I thought the same thing. I even called my sister and told her that the elmo cake my be pinkish red. But I did alot of research on red and let the icing sit overnight, and then applied it to the cake. Plus the cake sat for half a day. When I opened the box well ELMO was RED!!!! So I think I figured out the red thing. It has to sit awhile because the color darkens with time. Hope this helps!!! Also my directions for the elmo said he was to be red orange, so I added a tiny bit of orange to the color as well.
Here is what I did.
I had about 2 cups of buttercream to color. I used the whole 1 oz bottle of Wilton no taste red - a few squirts of Americolor Super red - little bit of Wilton Christmas Red abd a little bit of burgundy (to get the shade you want) and let it sit for a few days - the longer it sits, the redder it gets.
Check out my OCE cake and my snow globe cake.
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