How do you address this when people want you to match intense and or dark colors?

Yesterday I had a customer mention it when ordering cupcakes from me. Apparently she was at a recent baby shower and loved the cupcakes I had made but didn't like the chemical taste (her words) in the buttercream. They were bright purple and teal to match the invitations and I used Americolor gel.

I ended up suggesting that we go with pastels so I could use very little coloring, but what do you all do? I see so many vibrantly colored cakes on here--do they have that same aftertaste?

I too tend to think that strong concentrations of Americolor have a bit of a taste; of course, it's not enough to keep me from eating it! The Wilton colors didn't have a taste to me, but, I also had a hard time getting to produce consistent color.

I know for deep red, you can start with a light chocolate base, if they don't mind it being chocolate. But, I don't have any suggestions for other colors. So, I'm interested to see what suggestions others have, also.

I let people know ahead of time that anything iced with deep colors will have a slight bitter taste due to the dyes used. I also suggest starting with chocolate icing for anything to be colored black.

Powdered food coloring. No taste, no additives, just pure FD&C color compounds.

Yes... it is perfect for coloring chocolate.

Crystal Colors is a good brand of powder food colors that can be used in buttercream, royal icing, fondant, to dust with, to paint with....

The powdered colour I see most often here is branded 'Golden Day', not sure if it's in your part of thew world? I've also seen 'Roberts confectionary', and 'Corella'. And there is a french brand which apparently produces the most vibrant colours, but for the life of me I can't remember the name. Anyone heard of it?

They are still commonly used here for chocolate colouring, as oil based colours are as rare as hen's teeth, and very pricey.

And when I am doing red fondant, I will never use gel again, the powdered colour produces a rich red, with very little product used so it doesn't taste funny and isn't so sticky. You just get a drop of water (or as small as you can manage), and add it to some powder to turn it into a paste before adding it into your fondant.

BTW, if you can't get them where you are, and the cyrstal colours are too expensive, try buying them online in Australia. They have a great range, and their dollar is currently sitting at a fairly similar similar exchange rate to the US dollar. I've never tried any brand other than golden day, but as an example this place has the corella brand $3 for 15gms. I'm not endorsing this place, it was just the first one that came up when I googled.
http://www.completecakedec.com.au/Edible_Items2.htm

for anyone interested, I just came across these powdered colours for a good price in the U.S.A.

http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/mini.aspx?ShopId=46&CatId=535&SubCatId=1054