Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi everyone,
I am trying to make a deep red roses, and bought Squires Poinsettia Flower paste, but it is just not the correct colour. Looks like I will have to get sugar paste and then add something to it to make it hard. I have gum trag, but it that best or would I be better with something else or a different flower paste. Any suggestions would be grateful. Thanks

Have you experimented with adding a bit of colouring to it? Last time my red wasnt dark enough, I added sugarflair liquorice black to the flower paste and it darkened it up nicely. i just added a tiny bit at a time until i got the colour i wanted.

Hi Jackie

I always dust flowers with petal dust and steam them to set the colour, might be worth a try. Be careful not to scald yourself on the steam if try it. x

Hi added some black like mummykare suggested, but it just went to a brick colour. The poinsettia colour is a dark pink and I really need red. ??

Hi Jackie,

I use squires poppy to get a deep red. I mix the poppy colour with trex until I get the desired colour and then mix it with squires florist paste it gives a really good colour and the texture of the paste is just right.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Ozzym

Thanks Ozzym,
what colour of florist paste did you use? I was thinking of just getting sugarpaste in the colour or make up and then add some gum trag or tylos, not sure if they are the same or what is better.
This is all so confusing.. but will keep going..

Hi Jackie,

I use ruby colour from squires and i use quite a lot so wear gloves otherwise it will look like you have very raw hands.

Sorry I did write poppy but I do use ruby and you do get a really rich colour.

Kind regards,

ozzym

Hi Jackie

Since you posted I’ve experimented with a couple of colours. I mixed Red Extra and ruby with the tiniest spot of navy. It took a while to come together but it is a rich red, almost bordering on burgundy. I don’t know whether you’d want it that deep. I found adding all that colour to fondant started to break it down and it was becoming grainy. I’ve just been reading that to make a deep red the base has to be pink which is what the ruby starts off as, and then add red in small amounts until you achieve the right colour.

Hi, there is a company called ‘ A Piece of Cake’ who make a wide range of colours, and the red is darker than Squires, but the darker colours take longer to set, and for petals it is better to start with a base colour thats is lighter, and build up layers of colour with petal dust, as suggested by madeitwithlove, steaming inbetween to set each one, time consuming, but worth it for the finished result.

Just to update on the experimental colour, it has developed really well and resembles Valentine day roses red.

Hi everyone,
Thankyou all so much for your help. I have managed to order a packet of the ruby flower paste, so I will now try with that and thankyou miwl for the help with the colours I will try as you suggested if this ruby is still not dark enough. All the trouble started cause i thought that the Poinsettia was the darkest that they did. Jackie. Will let you all know how I get on.
Thanks once again.