I made a Captain America shield for my son's birthday and I used the Americolor Red as I was told it didn't have a taste. My son wouldn't eat any of the cake with red icing because it didn't taste good. It was the same icing over the entire cake and he normally loves it (it's a white chocolate buttercream). I tried it and I have to agree with him, it didn't taste good. Did I do something wrong? Why did it change the taste?

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

Hi,

Did you use the Americolor Red that says "No Taste" on the bottle?

Also, when using any red coloring, I use pink as a base color first and then add red to get the red color I want. This also cuts down the red flavor too me. But that's just my opinion

HTH

Americolor Tulip Red has no taste. It is a slightly different shade of red than the Super Red but it's the taste that maters right?

Try Americolor Tulip Red - that's supposed to have no taste either.

Did you use solid red icing to frost your cake? Or did you just layer on the red over your buttercream? I always frost my cake with regular buttercream first, harden it in the refrigerator and then layer a couple of thin layers of the highly colored buttercream over the top of that. It really helps to avoid that weird food coloring taste that can happen with the deep colors like red and black. It doesn't take much to cover the white so it saves making a huge batch of colored frosting and, like I said, you avoid the problem of taste AND the bright red (or black, etc) teeth and tongues that can happen with those types of colors.

Carmijok - that's a great tip. It saves you from having to waste unused colored icing.

Great tip! Why haven't I thought of that? Thank you!

Sorry haven't been on CakeCentral Forum in a while and I never got notifications about these responses.  Thanks so much for the advice.  I was told that the Super Red wouldn't have a taste but I'll try Tulip Red next time.  I did start with a pink base and I did a base coat of white icing problem was that I was using a star tip to fill in the red portions of a Captain America shield so there was still a lit of red icing.

Once again thanks for the advice.
 

Hmm. Sounds to me like time to get out the airbrush. (Except that my airbrush has been used with model paint, mostly solvent-based. Definitely NOT "Good Eats.")

AI use wilton no taste red and it truly has no nasty food coloring off taste.

Americolor Super Red tastes awful - exactly like it smells.  If something smells bad, I normally assume it will taste bad.  Especially in large amounts like it takes to get a true red.  Start with pink or use Wilton no taste red and when you have it close, finish with a small amount of Super Red. You'll end up with red and not have the bad taste.  I can't imagine why anyone ever would say that Americolor Super Red doesn't have a taste - you can smell it as soon as you open the bottle! UGH!

Carmijok - GREAT tip!  I can't wait to try that!

I made a Captain America shield for my son's 5th birthday back in April. I used Americolor Super Red and Royal Blue.

I made buttercream icing and added a few drops. No one mentioned a funny or bad taste. I ate several pieces and YUM !!

Honestly, I've never had any trouble with Americolor...

AI've used the Wilton no taste and I found that it did in fact have a taste. I'd love to do the airbrush thing but don't currently have one. It is on my wish list though.