Black Icing Issues

Decorating By rsaun Updated 12 May 2008 , 3:27pm by Hawkette

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rsaun Posted 30 Apr 2008 , 3:07pm
post #1 of 4

Two nights ago, I completed two cakes with white buttercream icing and piped black japanese symbols. They looked great. When I got them to the reception yesterday, all the black piping had bled onto the white icing and made a purple-ish border around all of the black. Needless to say, I was horrified. I often use a black/white combination and this has never happened before.

Now, in a month, I have a wedding cake to do and of course, it's to be white buttercream with black piped scrollwork. How can I avoid this happening again? Does anyone know what might have happend to my japanese cakes? How can I prevent this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

3 replies
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BoothsBest Posted 30 Apr 2008 , 4:53pm
post #2 of 4

That is the very reason I don't do black on white much anymore. I have found that if I just need to outline or accent something with black, I just use a canned (I know can you believe it???) dark chocolate fudge icing. It is very dark brown. Most people can't even tell the difference.

hth

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rsaun Posted 12 May 2008 , 2:25pm
post #3 of 4

I'm bumping this because I really need some help...

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Hawkette Posted 12 May 2008 , 3:27pm
post #4 of 4

Adding a lot of food coloring (Wilton, Americolor, or otherwise) can cause bleeding because the icing is so saturated with color. Try starting with chocolate icing for black. You can add cocoa powder to your buttercream or find a chocolate recipe (or use canned like BoothsBest suggested), then add just a little bit of Americolor black. You get a great black color with very little food coloring. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee this will stop the bleeding, but I would guess that it would.

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