I am so dissapointed right now, I found this picture of a really cool, pretty cake I wanted to make for a party tomorrow. It is two different shades of pink, so I made the lighter pink alright, and then tried to make the darker/hot pink... I was not getting it just adding more pink, so I added a dab of red, that made it go kinda rust colored, so I added some violet, not much better... by the time I finished adding almost every color paste I own (well maybe not ALL of them, hee hee) I am left with this odd purple color!!! Agh!! At least it is salvagable... I am going to try striping my bag tomorrow with violet, cause I am using this color to make roses, and maybe they will not turn out so bad after all. I don't have anymore shortening so I can't make more icing. It's just frustrating 'cause I had the cake pictured in my mind that it was going to look so pretty with the pinks & green.

I get the hot pink using some regular pink, some rose and a tiny bit of violet.
Hugs Squirrely Cakes

No worries Melissablack...how often do the cakes really turn out like we picture in our minds...I'm sure it will be beautiful!

hello melissa

when I need different shades of a color, I make the darkest first. then I add some BC to the leftover dark BC for a lighter shade. you can do that as often as you want and you always get it a little bit lighter witch each addition of BC AND you don't have a lot leftover from different shades of BC

Thats a great tip Esther!

For pink shades I always use Wilton rose. You do not need to add a lot...A little goes a long way!
traci

I agree with traci witon rose can make a good pink. I used it on the strawberry shortcake cake I made this week. I hate making black. I tried today for my brothers "jason's hockey mask" cake. I started with chocolate and ended up with a sick grey. lol

I may have to order some 'rose' online, I have seriously never seen it here. I thought it was odd that they only had one type of pink.

OMG, you should see the shade of purple I ended up with, lol. The birthday girls actually LOVED it, 'cause it dried pretty neat looking, but it was so sick looking when I was mixing it up! The cake turned out absolutely gorgeous though, one of the best ones I've ever made probably, after all my stressing about the color! lol.

Melissa

Have you ever considered trying a different brand? I've found that a lot of times, I can use pink from bakery crafts and it turns out great, plus black and red have no nasty after taste. I've heard that said about other brands as well. Since you may be stuck ordering online either way, you may want to consider it.

Hey melissa, how did the cake turn out??? Did you post a pic??

Hey Melissa,
If you go to Wilton.com there is a Color chart there. I Printed it out and stuck it in a book so that I would have it for Quick ref. it has kept me from having to run out to try to find a Certain color, and Wal Mart only Keeps basic colors. Hopefully this will help ya a lil bit. but I am SO GLAD the Cake was Such a Hit. Dont you Just LOVE it when You think its just not quite right and everyone else is like OMG its AWESOME!!! Have a Great Day! =0)

I used the Barbie pink to get a beautiful shade of hot pink.....it was on sale and I bought it to use on my niece's little girl's first birthday cake..
cakegal

tip for tinting pink (or red) when using for roses or other flowers (with green leaves). once you've mixed your flower colour and your green colour for your leaves, take a tiny dab of the green icing and mix it into the pink and a tiny dab of the pink and mix it into the green. the colours will mute slightly (making them softer looking) and your flowers and leaves will have a beautiful balanced tone (and match each other, even if the original colours are from different colour/tone families). it's a nifty little trick -- just be sure not to add too much green icing to the pink or it'll look muddy.

i like to use small amounts of mauve paste for my pinks, as i generally like more purpley pinks than hot or barbie pink.

as for black -- for buttercream, i always start with a store-bought chocolate fudge icing (the darkest i can get) and then tint it with a little black paste.