Hello everyone! I am a newbie here and I am hoping to get some advice. I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I'm not sure how to find the answer. How do I get a true red colored butter cream frosting? I struggle with this...

Hi, welcome!

I thought I would struggle with this too...here is the advice I got here some time ago. Buy Americolor Super Red - works GREAT! used about a 1/2- 1 T for 1 1/2 cups bc and it came out a true red.

Good luck!

Ditto!

I find that if I need a lot of red icing, even the "no-taste" stuff begins to alter the flavor after a point, and adding a lot of any color changes the consistency.

My solution has been to color the white icing using Chef Master no fade pink. I take it to a bright pink. I add in some Chef Master orange so that it's pretty bright and then I put in Americolor Super Red. I find that I need to use very little red this way and the icing doesn't change in flavor.

HTH
Rae

Americolor Super Red is great! No bad taste and much less needed to get bright red color. Be careful though, the color deepens over time. Sometimes I have added enough to get just the right shade and by the next day the color is much darker.

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I have struggled with this dilemma for some time! No one likes frosting that has too much red dye in it! Thanks so much!

I don't have access to Americolor (I can't buy stuff online right now) - do you think doing the pink, add orange, then red would work with Wilton?

I started by adding red jello (strawberry) added Wilton's orange & then Wilton's no taste red. It does alter the flavor to more of a jello like taste but it's certainly not bitter, as just plain no taste red can be.
I'll also try the Americolor next time. TFS.

I read on here a while back to start with white buttercream, color it a deep yellow, then add orange then add the red. I did that once for a small batch, seemed to work out ok....not sure about a big batch.

I read on here a while back to start with white buttercream, color it a deep yellow, then add orange then add the red. I did that once for a small batch, seemed to work out ok....not sure about a big batch.

While we're on the topic of red, can I throw in a request for black buttercream help??

I have my first wedding cake in September and the bride wants it white with red roses and black scroll work (of course she does!) - I would have just made chocolate buttercream and added black, but she's allergic to chocolate....

Is there a trick to get black or am I better off just buying the tubes of premade stuff, since it's for piping scrolls rather than icing? (I'm going to cheat I think and just do the middle of three tiers in scrolls, then just ribbon the top and bottom tiers)...

I just did black last night but used chocolate. I'd be curious to see what others say too.

You need to let it set for a while after you color it, the color will get more intense.

I started off by making the buttercream a dark gray. Mix that really well, then let that sit for a few hours, or overnight. The next day, mix in black. Let it sit for a while, then just keep doing that for several days. When I was ready to use it, it looked like a very dark charcoal, but when I put it on the cake it was black. I tried using the chocolate icing first, but it didn't give me what I wanted.

I had notice that black has like a purple tone to it, when it has started to faded...so I started coloring my BC purple then added my black coloring. It has work for me when trying to get a deep black, or maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me

I have also had to color my BC a deep pink then add the "no taste red" (Wiltons, it all I can get here), that also help me. I do agree, you have to watch, because these will darken over time. Once I did a red color so dark that as it dried over time it look almost black

Hope this can help,
God Bless,
Sharon

Yeah, things definitely darken! My black always seems to be very dark blue... maybe I'll try dying my buttercream purple, add in some dark blue and THEN black. I'll let you all know how that goes (when I get around to it.. I don't need black for a while and have no where left in the fridge for extra icing to save for later)