Red Red Red

I got an order to make fireman hose cupcakes and I have decided to make red hoses as the other design is yellow flame. 

So I thought red hoses should look better if  two types of cakes are put side by side on the same cup cake stand. 

I have never thought that getting a true red butter cream is something not so straightforward. I first tinted some cream with Chefmaster Christmas Red and I found that the color didn't turn out to be red, but pink instead. I got panic and added in some orange powder, thinking that it might help to make it vibrant and more fire engine like. No, it didn't turn out to be what I wanted. Instead, the color, though became more intense, looked very old and boring. Yucks!!

I then came out with a brilliant idea- drove to a 24hour sundry shop nearby and got a small bottle of red colouring powder. I got even shocked. The anticipated red turn out to be light purple! 

That night, I was pretty unhappy but still continued piping. The end result was quite lousy as the color was not vibrant. 

The next day, I decided to do a color test. The Chefmaster colouring still couldn't  meet my requirement. It was still pink. 

I did another experiment with the red colouring powder I bought from the sundry shop the other day. The colour was still purple. 

Then I look up at the internet. I googled about it and found that I wasn't alone in the journey of getting the vibrant red butter cream. 

I read about some comments. One of them actually says that the colouring will get more vivid after some time. So just put some colouring and let the color sit. If the shade still isn't up to what we are looking for, then only should we add in some more colouring. 

The next thing I read about was about the brand of colouring. I found that many people actually prefer Americolor than Wilton or any other brand. Besides, I have also watched someone making a cake with many vibrant colours in YouTube that uses Americolor. 

These had helped me making my decision to look for 'Super Red' by Americolor. I bought it and started tinting some cream with it. I also made sure to leave the red cream for a while before adding additional dye. Yes, the result was stunning. The red was exactly what I was looking for and the colour actually intensified and became vibrant. 

The experiment in tinting butter cream. Picture was taken indoor at the same place and with the same lighting.

I hope this post is helpful to you. Thank you.