Any ideas on what product to use to color buttercream so that it comes out red and not pink? Have used Wilton Xmas Red and no taste red but have had no luck - turns out pink. I am in Canada and hopefully I can purchase product here.

Americolor Soft Gel Paste.
Cake central sells it

Works well if you use chocolate icing and it doesn't take so much red.

here's an ironic twist.
If you actually color the frosting pink first (with pink coloring) and then add the red it will turn out red. interesting ain't it.

Yes that works too.

I could not get my bc red enough last week, someone suggested the red spray. It worked great.

yeah starting with the pink first works like a charm - that was one of the first tips our Wilton instructor gave us. FYI, for brown add cocoa powder first, cuts down on the amount of brown coloring you will use.

I have heard that the longer that you let it sit, the darker that it gets. Try making it the night before.

I was just wondering the same thing. Thanks everyone..you all are so great

I had to do an Elmo cake with red icing. It definitely darkens over time. I would suggest making it even 4-5 days ahead. Great tips on using pink first, I'll try that next time!

I usually always start my red with pink / black with blue/ brown with chocolate
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I was decorating sugar cookies the other day and by accident found that coloring your icing pink before you turn it red works really great.

This is what happened. I only had one pig to color so I made pink icing. Then, I didn't want to waist the extra and had a couple of lady bugs to color, so I added my red color to the pink and that was the best looking red I have ever had. (BTW, I was using poured sugar icing). I usually get a coral color if I just use the red.