Hi Kathy, I’m so glad you asked this question, because although I don’t think a lot of people will be making penguin wedding cookies right now, many will be thinking about Halloween cookies and cakes – and those sometimes call for black icing. So here we go:

Black icing can be tough. No matter how much “black” food coloring you use, it often ends up looking gray or purplish. And if you use too much coloring, it can give the icing a bitter or “off” taste. One solution is to start with a chocolate frosting or icing – using cocoa in the icing gives it a good running start. The kind of icing doesn’t matter all that much – but I prefer a buttercream frosting or royal icing; I simply find them easier to work with. What might matter is the kind of food coloring. Most serious cake and cookie decorators prefer paste coloring, especially for difficult colors like black and red. Wilton.com, the cake decorating experts, have a good supply of paste colorings, which they call Icing Colors. They also have a blog post with good tips for making and using black icing here: How to Make Black Buttercream Icing. Good luck with those penguin cookies—it sounds like an interesting wedding!