I have one batch of buttercream ~

1 cup butter + 1 cup hi ratio shortening + 2 lbs pwd sugar and one entire bottle of Super Red Americolor = Orange frosting.

Exactly how many bottles of Super Red Americolor should it take to make one batch of buttercream actually turn Red and not Orange?

I'm not seeing where it is any better than Wilton or any other color i've tried.

Sorry ~ just venting I guess. It's never worked before. Not sure why I would expect it to work this time!

I see red cakes on here so I know it's possible! Would love to know how!

If you start with dark pink and then add no taste red and let it develop overnight, you might have better luck.

Another option is using powdered food color. Crystal Colors (sugarpaste.com) makes a beautiful red that works extremely well and has no taste.

HTH
Rae

Wow, it's never taken me anywhere near that much to color frosting, but then I rarely color an entire batch. My guess is that the light in your house is making it appear orangish, because the Americolor Super Red is absolutely a pure red.

It will darken overnight, wait and see what it's done by morning. I use 2c shortening to 2pounds sugar and flavoring and I don't use anywhere near that much red. Matter of fact I made a double batch this weekend and maybe used half a bottle and after it sets it's definately red. Look in my pics. Let us know tomorrow how it looks, I can't imagine how dark it's gonna be. Red and Black both NEED setting time and when it dries it's even darker once it's put on the cake.

I just went through this last week. I made a double batch of BC and it took 2 whole containers of Wilton gel to get it to red. First, definitely look at your icing in natural light. Mine looked totally pink in my kitchen, but when I held it by the window it was indeed red. Also, I was told that the taste of the coloring was really evident in the icing (I only tasted a tiny bit and thought it was ok, but a forkful of it might have been different) so just be aware of that.

I will definitely go with the powdered color next time for something as stubborn as red.

If you can let it rest, it might be a good thing. Sometimes it helps. When I need really deep blue, I find it best to mix and forget for a few hours.

Otherwise I recommend the powdered food coloring. It may help, at least it won't soften the icing.

Thanks everyone.

It is now red-orange after sitting overnight.

It's too late to start with pink but I do have crystal colors at home. I use them for gumpaste flowers - i've never tried coloring buttercream with it. Will have to add that this evening and keep my fingers crossed!

I had a student do this, so I haven't tried it personally, but I saw the pictures of the cake and the icing was red...

When making a full batch of red icing replace the liquid in the recipe with liquid red food coloring, like you buy in the bottle.

I've heard of that also TexasSugar ~ I didn't replace my liquid with the color as it would have taken much more than one bottle but I did replace part of the liquid with it - I did use an entire bottle of Americolor Super Red.

Great! These colors work extremely well and leave no taste.

Let us know how it works!

Rae[/quote]

Thanks! Will let you know!

One question ~ does it have to sit overnight when using CC?

Most all colors darken when put in buttercream, but I haven't found that CCs "need" to sit overnight. They seem pretty true early on in the process.

Rae

Thank you Rae

I got a late start on decorating the cake so I didn't get to try the CC. I will definitely try it out soon so I'll know how it will work when I need it!

My red was okay ~ I used yellow trim to make the red seem darker and it helped. I was still not happy with how much color I had to use to get the color I did get. I feel sorry for the mom when she has to clean up her little boy after he plays with his smash cake!

I'll post a picture soon so everyone can see it.

Thanks again for your help and suggestions!

I just posted a picture of the cake - it's a #1 first birthday cake with a smash cake. The picture looks very red!

I'm seeing red...lol. Glad you got the color.

I'm having the opposite affect, I made two graduation cakes yesterday and they were nice and red as usual from leaving red in refridge all the time. When I got to the party the red looked almost maroon it was so dark. I wonder what makes one persons get lighter and one darker. I use high ratio I wonder if that makes it more color sensitive?

I only use several drops of super red and have great results every time.