I made a dark purple this weekend for the alligator in my photos. The frosting was mixed well but after I had frosted the cake and smoothed about an hour-2 hours later you could see little blue specks in the purple. Doesn anyone know why? I have had this happen to my dark blue before too. I see every flaw in any of my cakes and I get embarassed that this happens.

If anyone knows why please let me know.

Thanks!

i looked on a wilton discussion forum.. some say to be sure to use popcorn salt.... because it is finer.... i have always used popcorn salt... some say to mix your salt in warm water first... some say it could be the shortening not mixing well.... to be sure and use high grade shortening... some say it could be the water in different areas.... i have had this to happen in the past ... but not for a long time... i use whipping cream... in my buttercream.... on the wilton forum .. it does say to replace your water with milk or cream... when i did have that problem... when i rebeat it with my spatula .. it went away.. hth

Yah I don't think anyone actually came up w/*the* answer on this as is mentioned in the above post.

I never notice it my light colored frosting so who knows I will experiment. I do not use salt in my frosting and always use high grade shortening. I do not use milk but water in my frosting so maybe it has somehting to do with that. Thanks for the help. The co-worker I made the alligator for commented on the little blue specks, he said the guests liked it and said "How did she do that?" they thought it looked neat. So everything worked out!

Thanks!

I'm not sure what causes it, but I never have it happen if I color my frosting ahead of time and let it sit for a while, then rewhip.