The buttercream dream icing recipe here is my favorite, everyone has loved it and I really like the flavor/texture....

but suddenly I'm having problems. I was trying to be more adventurous and start coloring my icing. since I've been coloring it (using Wilton colors), the icing is looking 'funny".

i've had a bit of this problem when I leave the icing white, but when i color it, it's much worse.

I put it on the crumb coated cake and then use the big icing tip to ice the cake, then smooth..only it's not geting smooth really, it looks sort of lacy in spots, like the very top layer is tearing? getting it smooth has been an issue.

This morning's cake was worst ever for it...so I'm going to wait a bit and try the viva towel trick, but I'm wondering what i'm doing wrong?