I have a cake I am making for an Apple store opening, and they want the frosting black- I'm pretty new to this, so I'm still using the Wilton mixes for the buttercream, as I'm too nervous to try a new recipe (There seems to be so many!)

I've read that I need to use chocolate frosting to get black- can I simply add some coco powder to get it chocolate, or will I need to add something different?

Or would it be better to just go to the store and get some canned chocolate? LOL.


Any help would be great. Thanks!

NO - don't try to pipe or decorate using canned chocolate icing!!!

First of all, in my experience, you can get black starting from white icing. I use Americolor super black gel color and it works great. You can get a true black, not gray, and you don't have to use a lot of color (like you would with Wilton color - and you still might end up with gray).

But if you would like to start with chocolate, I would use Hershey's chocolate syrup. Adding it gets it a nice dark chocolate brown. I've added cocoa powder and I get a light brown at best - it doesn't really help to darken the white icing that much.

Awolf- I'm not really going to be decorating with this, just frosting the whole cake with it- then I'm going to do a FBCT with the Apple Logo in just the plain buttecream.

I don't have time to get any Americolor in time for this cake, but I will defiantly order some! This is the second time I've tried to make black, lol.

The Hershey's syrup is a wonderful idea. Do I add it after I'm done mixing the buttercream, and then just whip it more, or do I need to add it in with the other ingredients- or does it matter?

Thanks for the help- I don't know what I'd do without this site.

I've made the regular wilton's buttercream recipe and just added cocoa powder until it got to be a darker brown, then I added the black coloring. It worked fine for me. I would think that the syrup would thin it down, but would probably work fine.

I just (yesterday) made the wilton buttercream chocolate recipe and it was the most awful stuff I have ever tasted!!!!!! I too am in search of how to do this because I need to pipe with it! If you opt to make it wiltons wayI would TASTE IT FIRST !

Dee-Lite, I always end up tasting stuff first....That's the problem!

I think that's why I'm gaining weight here! LOL!

You can add the syrup in any time but I add it at the end. If it thins the consistency too much, you can add more PS to compensate.

Just FYI - I use this recipe as my standard icing and I love it -

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1948-Butter-Cream-with-real-butter-for-decorators.html

I always play around with other flavorings, etc.

Awolf- Thank you SO much for the recipe. I'm always to afraid to post asking which ones are best since I'm sure everyone is tired of it being asked. I will be trying this one out.

No problem - but don't be afraid to ask. That is what CC is for!