Red food colouring

[Cassia]

For my ds' second birthday in Feb, I've decided to make Elmo cupcakes (he's a die hard fan). I'll just be using a butter cream icing for the fur, and then fondant for the eyes, nose and mouth. I've tried the Wilton red colour, and it of course was horrific. I haven't tried the no-taste one that they have, but I've heard it's not much better and you can taste the bitterness in that too. What about AmeriColor? Has anyone used this? I can't find it here, so I'll order online if I need to, but I don't want to go to the trouble if it's not going to work out.

TIA!

 

[PattY1]

For my ds' second birthday in Feb, I've decided to make Elmo cupcakes (he's a die hard fan). I'll just be using a butter cream icing for the fur, and then fondant for the eyes, nose and mouth. I've tried the Wilton red colour, and it of course was horrific. I haven't tried the no-taste one that they have, but I've heard it's not much better and you can taste the bitterness in that too. What about AmeriColor? Has anyone used this? I can't find it here, so I'll order online if I need to, but I don't want to go to the trouble if it's not going to work out.

TIA!

I use WILTON FOOD COLORING and have never had a problem.......

 

[Cassia]

I used it on my other son's 3rd cake and it was awful. It had an extremely bitter, chemical taste to it and I hadnt' used very much (the red and black have that chemical taste). Not only that, but it really didn't give me the red that I was hoping to achieve. It was used in fondant, so thank goodness I'd decided to do just the accents in red, and not cover the whole cake in it.

 

[PattY1]

I used it on my other son's 3rd cake and it was awful. It had an extremely bitter, chemical taste to it and I hadnt' used very much (the red and black have that chemical taste). Not only that, but it really didn't give me the red that I was hoping to achieve. It was used in fondant, so thank goodness I'd decided to do just the accents in red, and not cover the whole cake in it.

Did you ever think that maybe the coloring or the Fondant was past it's time??

 

[Cassia]

No, that's not it. It's well known that condensed red has a very bitter taste (Wilton says so themselves on their website). I made the fondant myself so I know it was fresh, not to mention the rest of the fondant on the cake tasted fine. The colour was well within it's expiration date as well.

 

[LPBeier]

For my ds' second birthday in Feb, I've decided to make Elmo cupcakes (he's a die hard fan). I'll just be using a butter cream icing for the fur, and then fondant for the eyes, nose and mouth. I've tried the Wilton red colour, and it of course was horrific. I haven't tried the no-taste one that they have, but I've heard it's not much better and you can taste the bitterness in that too. What about AmeriColor? Has anyone used this? I can't find it here, so I'll order online if I need to, but I don't want to go to the trouble if it's not going to work out.

TIA!

I use both Wilton and AmeriColor for my cakes and I do have to say I prefer AmeriColor gel colors way over the Wilton ones. You are right that red and black are the worst to work with. You can buy red fondant, or what I will do is start by using a pink colour and then kneeding in some red after. It ends up not taking as much. But I prefer to use the coloured fondant. If you are using it in frosting, again you can use a pink colour, then mix a small amount of red in and it can counteract that taste (and the watering down of the icing/fondant).

Hope this helps!

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Is that the one made from boiling cochineal beetles?

 

[LPBeier]

Is that the one made from boiling cochineal beetles?

Not the Americolor. It is 100% synthetic color (that is exactly what it says on the bottle ) Not sure if that makes it better or not.