The Americolor Student Set comes in three parts, and the second set has some nice colors that would be great for autumn-themed cakes and cupcakes.
This is what’s included in the Americolor Student Set #2, plus a look at the kinds of colors each one makes.
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Mixing method for the food coloring.
The Americolor food colorings come in little dropper bottles. I used about 1/4 cup icing for each test and did 1 drop of color for light, 2 drops for medium, and 3 drops for dark.
The icing was a practice buttercream that was made from shortening and confectioner’s sugar, so it was totally white to begin with. If you’re using butter your icing is going to have a slightly off-white tint, so the colors will be a little different and you might have to adjust them a little.
If you’re using a larger amount of icing, start with a little color and add more as you go. Some of the colors are really strong, so start with less than you think you’ll need and work your way up.
These colors are a lot more concentrated than liquid food coloring, and they give you better colors. Click here to check the difference between these, regular McCormick colors, and natural food colorings.
Click for articles about the Americolor Student Set #1, Basic Six set, and the 8 Color Junior Set.
Americolor Copper.
Copper is very similar to peach, but a little darker. (Peach is also included in this set.) This would be a good color for autumn flowers, but it’s not as brown as real copper metal. To get that color you’d have to use a lot of it, but it does make a nice coppery orange.
To see more comparisons of orange and brown food coloring, click here.
Americolor Egg Yellow.
I really like the egg yellow color. This one is a lemony yellow if you use a little, and the more that you add, the more egg yolk color comes out. The darkest version was a good dark yellow that wouldn’t need any other colors mixed in to get that color.
For an article that compares yellow food coloring, click here.
Americolor Ivory.
The Ivory color is a very yellow-toned ivory. Ivory is one of those weird colors that you should definitely check if a client says that they want ivory, because some ivories are yellow, some are pink, and some are green. This one is definitely yellow.
You can add a little bit of green or pink to this to get to the right color if you need a different tone, but if you’re looking for a yellowish off-white, this will be perfect.
Americolor Forest Green.
This Forest Green is a really nice dark green with a blue tinge, which is exactly what you want if you’re doing pine needles or dark tree leaves.
This would be a good color to use for piping leaves onto a floral cake for an autumn event.
Americolor Mint Green.
This is supposedly Mint Green, but it’s really bright and to me was more like a grass green. If you used a tiny bit of it you could probably get a light green like a mint chocolate chip ice cream color, but for my tests it was a lot brighter.
Start with a tiny bit of this one and work your way up, because if you’re looking for a pale green, too much of this isn’t going to give you what you want!
Americolor Mauve.
This mauve was REALLY greyed out, almost to the point where it was brown. Mauve is another color that’s strange because people say “mauve” but mean different things.
I was thinking that it would be a lot pinker, but it started out a lot more brown, and the darker it got the browner it got even though it had a tiny bit of pink in there.
This color would be good for autumn cakes to give oranges and greens a little tinge of pinky brown, but it’s definitely not pink on its own!
For an article that looks at a bunch of pink food coloring, click here.
Americolor Dusty Rose.
The lighter version of this color is more like what I would call “mauve,” but the more I added, the more orange it got. This Dusty Rose definitely has a lot of orange in it even though the main tint is pink.
As the color got darker, it almost looked like brick red, but a more orange version. There’s a lot of red in it but also some yellow.
Americolor Peach.
This peach color was a nice, soft color that ended up pretty orange but started out as a lighter peach. It’s definitely a warmer orange color with a lot of red in it instead of being yellow.
This would also make some nice flowers for a piped cake in autumn colors. It would work for a springtime cake, too.
Americolor Burgundy.
This is a really nice burgundy that can range from very light pink to a deep purple-pink. It would be nice for piping chrysanthemums on an autumn-themed cake or cupcakes, or for adding burgundy details to a wedding cake.
Click to see the colors in this set on a cake: Fall colors cake flowers.
Americolor Red Red.
The Red Red color is a more orangey red than other colors, so it’s not as blue as other red colors. Adding more made a difference between the medium and the dark, but it wasn’t a huge difference.
I’d say that if you want a more blue-toned red, you’ll need to add some blue to it, or some purple. But if you’re okay with a dark coral type of red this will be fine.
You can also let it sit to deepen overnight, since colors like red and black tend to get darker over time.
Americolor Terracotta.
Terracotta is a very orange color, and I think that you’d have to add some red to it to get it to be a darker reddish color if that’s what you’re going for. But it’s a nice, dark orange if that’s what you want to end up with.
It’s not as orange as peach, but you could use it for a peach color in a pinch and it would be fine.
Americolor Bright White.
White food coloring can seem a little strange, but it’s good to have on hand if you need to lighten some icing that you made too dark.
White food dye is basically titanium dioxide, which is an opaque white color that will tone down the brightness and lighten the color a little. It won’t make it completely light, but it can help in small amounts.
Another way to do it would be to add some of the darker colored icing to a larger amount of white icing and work up from there. It might work better than trying to whiten a batch of icing with white food coloring, but it’s still good to have some titanium dioxide on hand.
You can also paint white food coloring onto gumpaste or fondant details and use it like an edible paint.
All the colors.
This group of colors is a nice assortment of autumn flower colors with a couple of greens thrown in. I can see using these to pipe flowers onto an October birthday cake, or to make leaves for a fall-themed garden cake.
These cupcakes were made with air-dry buttercream that I colored with this set. You can see them in this article: Autumn floral cupcakes.
