When I color my icing it never seems to turn the color it's supposed to. My burgundy is a pink, my red is a pink as well. And black...well, black is always kinda gray, even with a chocolate base. The last of which concerns me most right now. Black. How do you get an icing or fondant REALLY black? Do you have to use an entire little jar? I use Wilton. Does Americolor work better at really saturated colors?

Cheers,
Darci

Wilton is probably your problem. I always use Americolor or another one... sorry cant think of the name of it right now. Its a squeeze bottle with a chef on it. Anyway, on a black you'll still have to use a lot but i've NEVER had good luck with a wilton black. KEEP IN MIND these better colors get darker as they sit. When your mixing it get it pretty dark but my black always gets blacker and shinier as I continue. Try the americolor, you'll be happy you did!!!

I have never used the Americolor black, only the Wilton. It is difficult to get a large amount colored a deep black, but if you just keep adding, you'll eventually get there. And yes, you may end up using an entire bottle. I would start out with a pretty stiff icing because after adding all the gel, it thins out a little. And I would mix it several days before you are going to need it so it has time to sit, which will let the color deepen. Hope this helps.

Darci,

I would invest in some Americolors from this site!! You'll never go back to anything else again!!

Americolors are awesome especially red,black and blue!!A few drops and that's it!!!

I love Americolor~ I am in the process of replacing all my wilton colors with them! Only problem is they don't fit in the holes in the wilton caddy! I'll have to find another use for it!

Fantastic! Thanks for the advice!

Also, Americolor super red works really good.

And Americolor purple. You have to have that!!!

I had to make one of my display cakes 3 times because the purple faded (I"m not talking about over time- I'm talking like a couple of days). The third time I used Americolor and it's great. No fading- it's light purple not blue-gray like when I used Wilton.

I tried to make a dark brown using Americolor but it is still like a light milk chocolate color...how do I get it darker?

You can buy Fondant from Satin Ice in a variety of colors if you want to avoid having to color your fondant. I buy red and black premade so i don't have to go through the hassle of coloring.

I have always used Wilton colors. It seems like for a red or black icing you jave to add the entire bottle and then it ends up tasting bad. I have tried the no taste red, but it still doesn't taste the same. Are the Americolors gel or liquid? Does it mess up the thickness of the icing?

Americolors are a Gel that is soft enough to squeeze as a liquid but does not change the consistency of your icing!!! They really are great gels to work with and require significantly less color for achieving the darker colors with no bad taste.

I love the Americolor Gels! Easier to use, with much better results. You will never use Wilton gels again if you try them!

After letting my brown icing sit for a few hours it got alot darker. I love the Americolor..I just got it from CC last week so this was my first time using it. I have never liked the Wilton colors. Now I have another question....I just finished decorating my cake that my daughter needs on Friday. I put it in a Tupperware cake container that is supposed to be air tight so do I need to put the cake in the fridge or can I leave it sitting out and hope the colors don't bleed.

The colors won't bleed and it is in a air tight container but I would still refridgerate it for freshness anyway...

I have seen two different browns in Americolor @ the cake supply store.

Try mixing a little red icing @ first and let that turn red and then add more icing and red...keep repeating until you get enough icing...that is what I did for my Christmas Barbie cake and it turned a deeper red than I expected.

I do the same for my black also.

Now I keep red and black icing in the freezer and as I use it, I add more icing and red to replenish, same with the black.

I just did a great black on my elmo cake. I started with my buttercream, added alot of cocoa powder then added just a touch of black paste. It was really dark brown, but after 15 minutes it was black and smelled really yummy!