WHAT is the problem! I actually used two different jars of black food coloring and the same thing happened, same shade. What could possibly be wrong?
THANKS!!

hope this works for you.. I put in dark blue.. mix and then add black to your icing.. not royal.. navy blue.. hope this helps

if i am not mistaken.. green is the base for black.. i was a beatician.. that is what i learned at hair conventions.. yes, some peoples hair turned green .. when using black hair color.. go figure. you just have to use a lot of black color ... no matter the brand . when coloring icings.. hth

I am SO dumb. It's GUM PASTE that I'm trying to color. Any difference? Thank you SO much for your reply. I'll give that a try!

Black and Brown color occasionally have a green overtone to it which occurs with the presence of acid in the icing; lemon juice or cream of tartar, so omit.

Because it takes such a strong concentration of color to produce black, it is easier to buy black color. Mixing black color IS possible, but you need to use very strong paste colors and a LOT of it which makes the recipe bitter. A pinch of salt will help with the bitterness, but the only way to get a good strong black is with a LOT of color, especially when using gel color. Be careful with black. It will stain just about anything it touches.

Update: I did add a ton more black and...now it's actually BLACK!! YAY!!! I'm SO happy! Oh, and I do have a black spot on my sweatshirt to prove it. Thank you so much for your help everyone. Now I"m off to make a tux!

It's actually pretty logical that it appears to be green, since the Red Dye #2 was removed from the market in the '70's.

why red fades: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-653200-red.html+dye

The 3 primary colors are red, blue and yellow. Mix all three and you get black. (Note that if you put drops of color in a bowl, it may not appear to be pure black, but that's because most of the colors we use are not "pure" in color.) Anyway ...... red fades. When the red fades, or goes away, you are left with the blue and yellow. Blue + yellow = green.

If you are using Wilton's black, that happens often. I love Chefmaster and I love Americolor , they give a really nice black.
Edna