TruColor™ “Black” Gel paste Powder is made with a fruit juice anthocyanin and requires a neutral to basic pH to get a “Tru” black shade. A small 5 gram jar will color ¼ pound of buttercream icing made with real butter and cream or water to a deep black shade and up to ½ pound of icing a grey color that will darken to show a black shade overnight. If your fondant has Acetic Acid or the shortening in your buttercream icing is stabilized with Citric Acid you will need to bring up the pH by adding small pinches of dissolved Baking soda to neutralize the acid that is already in your icing. Buttercream Icing made with real butter is naturally pH neutral, simply add the dissolved TruColor™ Black into real butter cream made from butter and cream (milk or water) to achieve a dark black shade as these ingredients are naturally neutral! A simply way to get a deep black shade is to simply paint with a paint brush or airbrush TruColor™ Black Natural Food Color Paint on the surface of your creation after the icing has had time to dry. Using this method of only applying color on the surface you take advantage of using natural colors to attain the deepest shade possible using the least amount of color.
TruColor™ Natural Powders, including Black need a few minutes time to completely hydrate and dissolve before using. If you see any “Foaming” allow more time to let the color stabilize and settle down, natural ingredients including baking soda or Calcium Carbonate is being used to raise and adjust the pH of the natural color. The ingredient statement on the jar will tell you if it has these natural pH adjusters.