Hi,

I'm new here. I am making an Elmo cake for my grandson's 2nd birthday.
My problem is the red icing. I can't seem to get anything other than a pink red.

I would love any advice.

Charlotte :

Make sure you use a red that has no taste to it. Wilton has a regular and a no taste one. Then you have to use a lot of it! If you feel more comfortable you can buy premade red icing in a tube and fit it with the tip you want. Good luck Kam

Thank you. It came out really red! I ended up using the no taste red (the whole bottle plus). And today it looks quite red.

Just a reminder.... Wilton colors DO get Darker as they stand.. I have made red, black (especially hard to get dark) and dark blue icings that were not the exact color I wanted when I started decorating. but on standing for an hour or so the icing darkened quite a bit.

When I made a graduation cake last year it took three bottles of Wilton red gel to get the color I needed. It didn't taste bad, but I just used it for the border. I haven't seen any of the other colors I've heard about here.

i've heard americolor is actually better, because it doesn't take that much coloring to get the color you need. i haven't tried it yet, but i did order some...still waiting on it.

I ordered the Americolor starter kits and the neon colors. What a difference! I love them! No toothpicks and the color mixes wonderfully! I finally was able to get a true red starting from regular buttercream, only using drops instead of the whole jar of paste color! I can't wait to try the black! The white actually took regular buttercream, which has the tint because of the butter, and turned it white. I think the starters were about $14 a set for 12 colors, which is comparably priced to Wilton.

wow! i didn't know the white would actually work! i was wondering if that would really work. i guess i'm gonna have to order me some!

Its not instant, any red..Wilton red or black...they all just take time. The best thing to do is to do your colors the night before or at least an hour or two and guaranteed it'll be the right color. Then you dont have to waste a whole bottle.

I was surprised too! But I figured if it didn't work, I wouldn't be out anything. The icing would still have worked ok with the butter tint.

Do you have to order Americolors online? Address please? Thanks, I'll get some.

I ordered mine from Sugarcraft online. I couldn't locate it around where I live. This is the link to Americolor's website. You can use the contact us link, tell them the area you live & they will email a list of suppliers in your area. They have a listing for online suppliers too. There may be one close to you or another you may prefer to order from. http://www.americolorcorp.com/

Yeah, I can't wait to order some... After this weekend with my order from Wilton not getting here... I think I will order Americolor's colors once in the states.

i thought wilton didn't ship overseas? are you ordering from the u.k?

http://pastrychef.com/htmlpages/ingredients.html -this site has chefmaster colors, which they are supposed to good too
http://www.cakesbysam.com/store/tools/gelpaste.htm -this is her online store and she carries Americolor