Two Questions - 7 Layer Dip/Frosting

[espritducoeur]

Hi...I really hope this is the place to ask this, but if it's not, I apologize! Forums confuse me.

Anyways, my niece's 9th birthday is coming up on the 3rd (Wednesday), and I am planning on making a 7 layer dip for the party. I've never made one before, though it is pretty standard, and sounds easy enough. My main concern is adding ground beef to the dip. This may be a stupid question, but I was wondering if instead of putting the re-fried beans and the ground beef in two separate layers, I could just mix the ground beef in with the beans, so that it's just one layer of beef and beans?

If I did it this way, would it be okay to leave it in my fridge overnight? Or should I make this the day of the party?

I am also making a layered cake, in the colors of The Descendants character, Mal (seen here and here). I was wondering how to get the exact purple, pink and green colors for my buttercream frosting. I've never fiddled with food dye in my life (unless you count Easter egg dying).

I would really appreciate any help or advice you can give me! I'm feeling the pressure to make both of these dishes as great as possible - particularly the cake.

 

[Cheryl J]

Hi Krista,
Mmmm....7 layer dip, I love that! First of all, there is no such thing as a stupid question. And yes, you absolutely can mix the cooked ground beef with the refried beans, and it will be fine in the fridge overnight.

I'm no help with the frosting for the cake, though I'm sure someone here will chime in. Happy birthday to your niece.

 

[Addie]

for you getting your colors try this site.

How to Make Different Colors With Food Coloring: 8 Steps

If you Google "mixing food colors" you will find other sites if this is not enough information for you.

 

[GotGarlic]

Hi and welcome to Discuss Cooking

The recipe I've used for seven-layer dip has no ground beef in it at all. Particularly since it's usually left out on a buffet table for a while, it would be better to leave it out.

Here's how I make mine:
1. Refried beans mixed with taco seasoning
2. Sour cream mixed with taco seasoning and canned green chiles
3. Diced avocados, tossed with a little lime juice before layering
4. Diced tomatoes
5. Chopped romaine
6. Salsa
7. Shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend

And garnish with chives cut into 1/2-inch pieces. You can make it the night before; sprinkle on the chives in the morning.

Hope this helps.

 

[Silversage]

Those are some very dark colors. It will be difficult to get any frosting to color that dark. It will be impossible with liquid dye from the grocery. You will need to start with gel or powdered food colors, available from specialty shops or online.

Also, buttercream and other high fat frostings do not take dark colors well. You would be better off frosting your cake in white or other light color, then adding the deeply colored character in another way. You might try using royal icing for the decoration. Since it has no fat (basically just sugar and egg whites), you can get it to color darker.

You may be able to buy the decoration made from sugar. You could use a technique like fondant, molding chocolate, color flow, airbrush, etc. These are what professional decorators do to get dark colors.

Good luck!

 

[espritducoeur]

Thank you everyone who replied! I didn't really have too much luck with the frosting colors, but in the end, it still turned out great. I decided not to go with The Descendants color theme, and instead chose to use a nice lavender colored frosting with dark purple piping. She loved it I guess that's all that mattered.

And the 7 layer dip was a hit, to my relief. The taco seasoning mixed in with the re-fried beans was great (thank you for that idea, GotGarlic), and with the ground beef and the other layers on top of that, it turned out really good. I will definitely be making this dish again sometime!

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm glad it worked out for you! Thanks for letting us know. The cake is beautiful. Seven-layer dip is one of my favorite summer meals. So refreshing, yet filling.