Hi! I made a ton of icing for a large cake tonight. I added a good amount of rose pink coloring (the Wilton gel) to get a hot pink color to the icing. I tasted it, and boy is it bitter! I knew red/black made icing bitter, but didn't know pink did.

Can I add anything (sugar, vanilla, etc) to help this?

Or, how do you make hot pink icing without it tasting bitter?

TIA!

I find a little almond extract masks the bitterness well. I use the artificial *gasp* for allergies sake but it works well.

I'm not sure there's any way to fix it. You may have to scrap it and make a new batch. The last three bottles of Wilton Rose paste color has done that. You can even smell that it is rancid. I won't even buy it anymore.

i have heart to add salt let it sit overnight and it may look like it has pitting but then give it a good stir and that might help

Thanks for the responses! I did scrap and re-do - - started with a red no-taste base for pink and added just a tiny bit of the rose. Maybe my rose is rancid? I'll have to check tomorrow - smell it. Hmmmm....

I will also try to mask the bitterness w/ almond. I did a small amount tonight and it seemed to have worked. Problem is that I'm not sure if my friend, or anyone attending her party, has a nut allergy. So I couldn't do it tonight.

So...the cake is more of a mid-pink instead of hot pink. It still looks pretty - - and now I know. She knows I'm a beginner, so I know she'll still be happy.

Thanks!