I made a cake yesterday for my mom's birthday. I made it teal with black writing and borders. The teal was perfect, I was looking for turquoise but came more teal, still a pretty color. But the black was grainy and didn't look black and I even added a lot of color. what causes the BC to become grainy and how can i get black, not a dark gray. I'm making a Minnie Mouse cake in 2 weeks (my first paid order). I just am not sure what I did wrong or what to change.

The BC I use is 1/2 cup crisco, 1/2 cup butter, 1lb PS, 1 tsp (ish) clear vanilla, 2-3 tbs milk, and half packet of Dream Whip powder.

I also used the wilton black icing gel.

I have not tried IMBC yet, but thinking about trying it for the Minnie Mouse cake.. not sure yet..

Any advice would be great Thanks!!
-Becky

If I want black buttercream, I buy the dark chocolate canned frosting and then add black color to it. It you need to stiffen it up a bit to decorate with, add some sifted powdered sugar or equal parts PS & cornstarch. Granted, it still tastes like canned frosting, but it turns black beautifully.

i start with a chocolate buttercream before adding the black coloring. Let it sit a couple minutes as it always darkens. Also i have been told that to get black from a white buttercream you should use a royal blue (or was it a navy blue color? dont remember) first. Let it sit a little so that the color darkens and then add the black coloring. Hope that helps.

I do what Katie does-start with chocolate bc.

I have not found a chocolate bc that I like. I usually use white bc & just add black, cuss, let it sit, add black, cuss & let it sit. I have found that if I let it sit overnight the color usually darkens to the right shade.

I always use chocolate bc too. I just swap out some ps and add coco powder.

Instead of starting with chocolate buttercream I start with coloring it brown, then add the black.

PLEASE be careful with using chocolate if the customer doens't know you are doing it. I have clients and family that can not have chocolate at all or they could end up in the hospital. Please be careful and let your customers know if you do this.

I think its Dawn that makes a black BC - you can mix it with your own BC and it turns out nice and black without getting soupy.

Tobias

- a tub of black from Sam's coz I can never, ever get the icing to be black "enough"