I have a Lightning McQueen cake for my nephew this weekend and I was wondering how the gels were going to work. I've never done red or black before. Any tricks I should know?

Americolors are fantastic...far better than Wilton.

When I make red or black, I mix them at least a day in advance. I start off with a small amount of icing and add some gel and let it sit under the light for about ten minutes and then add more icing and gel. I continue this process until I get the deepness and amount that I want. Also, if I have extra icing left off, I add that to the red and black icing that I keep in the freezer...don't want to run out

I do the same as Stephanie214 but for the black I start with chocolate frosting if at all possible. It takes less black that way and doesn't end up bitter. Oh, and I used Americolor's super black.

Americolor superblack, super red, and red red are the best. I threw out my wilton when I got these and saw how great they worked. Plus, I love the bottles...no lids to get all over yor fingers!!

You will never go back to Wilton! They both work great and deepen as they sit, so you can use less color. I agree with using chocolate buttercream for black, but I tend to only use black for small accent pieces anyway so I use whatever I have.
They are so great that I recently bought 1 of every color in their range.
Diane

I love Americolor too. Much better then Wilton, doesn't taste as bitter. I never thought to use choc for black, I'll give it a try.

I threw out all my Wilton colors when I discovered the Americolor ones. They work so much better for me. I mix up red or black 24 hours ahead, so that the color will have time to deepen.