cake decorating experts needed! where to get decent food colouring from?

[aaarrrggghhh]

I am a novice cake maker but am attempting to make my first cake. I need to colour butter cream (to spread all over the cake) a dark enough green colour to pass for a crocodile or dinosaur. My supercook stuff green colouring goes from too pastel to too luminescent. Help!

jane asher has an online shop, or lakeland? or try adding some blue to your green.

I got a wonderful set of gel food colourings from Hobbycraft, they werent cheap but it had 8 small pots of gel.

As they are gel rather than liquid they dont water down the icing as much so you just keep adding it until the intensity is right.

Makes their poo a funny colour though so I only use it occasionally

have tried adding blue and it is slightly better but nowhere near the clour 'in the book'.

Hobbycraft gels sound good. Does it say on the pack they're suitable for food use?

whereabouts do you live?
You need a good cake shop, and you need to get food colouring paste - rather than the standard supermarket stuff.
like this

That's exactly what I need. Any idea what I type into yell.com to find a local stockist? I just keep getting cake makers.

this is my nearest one

The Sugarsmith
2, Post Office Walk,Fore St, Hertford, Hertfordshire SG14 1DL
Tel: 01992 500974

Yell Classification: Cake Makers & Decorations

Sugerflair is the name of the paste I use. If you could find a cake making shop near to you, you could also probably get icing ready coloured, which would make it even easier!

where do you live? I can recommend a good store if you are anywhere near Sheffield...

or, am happy to lend you my colourings to try, I've got loads!

I've used the gels from Hobbycraft, too. They're very good and are edible, though you're warned not to use too much. I think they're made by Wilton's, which is a pretty good make.

good cake shop near me sells gels and powders adn will happily chat away about what you should do.

good cake shop near me sells gels and powders adn will happily chat away about what you should do.

You can get gel from lakeland and I think from ebay but I have made a rather splendid crocodile with supercook green plus cocoa powder.

it doesn't really matter what colour green your crocodile / dinosaur is

the kids will love it

yes of course! agree twig! I did crocodile for ds for his 2nd birthday - was pastel green colour and he loved it. (luridly coloured cakes make me shudder a bit.)

dinosaurs were violet anyway weren't they?

sorry I didn't reply earlier, was busy aquiring some sugarflair paste that I managed to track down. It is still going to end up pastely as I'm worried about adding too much! Agree with you BBBee about lurid coloured cakes.