I was so excited to find this recipe & knew that it would be a hit based on the reviews. It is also more simple than the scratch recipe that I've used before. I just made it today, and the color was way too dark. I was reluctant to use 2 bottles of food color, but wanted to follow the recipe exactly. Has anyone tried it using only 1 bottle? My husband & I tasted the cake, and we both thought that it was not sweet enough. Does the Mary Kay icing make up for the lack of sweetness? I've used the CMD's red velvet with good results, but really wanted a cake from scratch. Any advice/recipes would be appreciated.

I use 1oz of liquid food coloring and then fill the bottle up with just water for the second oz.

OR

I fill a measuring cup (I have a little shot glass one) with 2 oz of water and color the water with red gel coloring, add to cake per directions.

The cake itself is not that sweet and the icing itself is not that sweet, but my oh my the combination is perfect!!

I'm with leily. I cut the amount of red food coloring down by half, and I have actually cut it down to as much as 25% and the cake is still a screaming deep red.

Thanks guys. I thought the color looked red enough with just one bottle. I'm going to ice & fill the cake with van. bc not the Mary Kay. I think that I'll use a different recipe for this cake so it will be a tad sweeter. I'll try it again sometime in the future using the Mary Kay icing.