Can someone help me...? I can never get my fondant or buttercream past the "pink" stage... I need a true red...
Thanks!!!!

Try changing your brand of colors you are using.If you try Americolor or Chefmaster Super Red you will get a true red.The wilton colors will not give you the color you want.

I use the wilton red food coloring and get the fondant as red as I can, then I add a little bit of the wilton color "mauve" that does the trick for me.

If you use enough, it will be red. It takes a lot!

For buttercream I use LOTS of no taste red by Wilton and super red by Americolor. As for fondant, there are some colors I don't attempt to color such as red, black, deep purple and royal blue. I would be kneading the fondant for a very long time if I was trying to get the desired color.

I don't deal in colored buttercream (just not talented enough! ), but I've certainly done red fondant. Americolor is definitely the way to go, takes a MUCH smaller amount of red to knead in. HOWEVER, the easiest way to make red fondant, if you want your entire cake to look red, is to color the entire batch of fondant when it is still in the "melted" stage (for MMF, when the marshmallows are melted; for Michele Foster's fondant, when the liquid ingredients are together and hot, before adding the PS). You get a much more vivid red with a far smaller amount, and if the color is still a little too light, it's much easier to knead in a small amount of red to get just the right hue once the fondant's cool. Take a look at my Christmas gift cake, or my Grinch cake, in my pics to see the color I mean. HTH!

When I make red fondant I use pink marshmallows and add the red to the melted marshmallows. I used Wilton's no taste red and added the entire container but Americolor would probably take less.