HELP - MY RED FROSTING IS NOT TURNING RED ENOUGH - WHAT CAN I DO?
THANKS.

How long ago did you try it? Red deepens over time (like, it will be redder tomorrow). Are you using gel paste? What brand, and can you get more? Can you get powder? Try to search the forums for "red icing" - I see a lot of posts on this. It WILL get redder!

Some start with a pink first.

You are right - it is getting redder - I am doing an ELMO cake. I am using Wilton red - every one of them. I searched the forum for red frosting but couldn't find anything- will try red icing and see what happens. Thanks so much for responding.

I know, it can be hard to find stuff in the forums sometimes! Don't use that Search box on the upper right hand side of Cake Central, I don't think it works well for forum searches. Use the little white word "search" just under all of the tabs (home - recipes - forums - articles - galleries - etc.), the one where you can narrow your search to include "use all words" etc.. If you are already doing this - sorry!

Anyway I am glad to hear it is already getting redder! Whew. I'll bet it will all be OK

Also, to help it deepen, you can add a drop or two of violet/purple.

I always use Wilton gel colors and start with pink, then no-taste red and then another red, depending on what color red I am going for.
Too much red will make it bitter unless you use the no-taste red.

i used wilton red on cupcakes with bc, and i tasted it and it was horrible i couldn't believe the taste and i had just bought it. for fondant i used the red red same thing and didn't have the taste but it wasn't getting as red as i liked so i added red food coloring might have to add a little more con, not much

I want to thank everyone for responding to my plea for help with the red icing. It did finally turn the color red I was hoping for - I will try adding a little pink and also the violet suggestion sounds interesting too.

Thanks for the tip on where to search - I used red icing and found a page How to Color Your Icing - it talks of the primary colors - anyways it was a big help too. Thanks again!!

Try switching to AmeriColors. You don't have to use as much to get the color you want. Once you use this brand you wont go back to Wilton. I love their colors!!

She's right about the Americolors! I switched a few months ago.

On the tip about the pink - color your icing with the pink first, then start adding the red. Finish with a drop or two of violet.

The pink is like painting a dark color on your walls...it's best to use a tinted primer first, so you won't need quite as much paint.

You're both right about Americolor. I have used it in the past but I'm not close enough to the store that carries that brand. I am going to "stock" up so I won't have this difficulty in the future.
Thanks again to everyone who responded!