#TLDR Both AmeriColor and Wilton sell gel-style icing colours that beat liquid supermarket dyes for buttercream and fondant. AmeriColor soft gels usually win on colour strength, dropper control and deep reds; Wilton gels remain widely available, familiar, and fine for everyday tints. Many decorators keep Wilton for basics and reach for AmeriColor (or Chefmaster / Colour Mill) when they need bold, clean shades. Pick by the job: pastel cupcakes vs true black wedding tiers are different problems.
Why brand choice matters for food colouring
Gel and soft-gel colours are concentrated. A few drops shift a whole bowl of buttercream without turning it into soup. Liquid grocery dyes are mostly water, they dilute icing, fight fat-based recipes, and struggle with red and black.
Once you move past the four-pack of primary liquids, you meet the big cake-decorating names: Wilton, AmeriColor, plus favourites on Australian benches like Chefmaster and Colour Mill. This article focuses on AmeriColor vs Wilton, then places them next to what we stock for local bakers.
Quick comparison table
| Factor | AmeriColor soft gel | Wilton gel / icing colours |
|---|---|---|
| Consistency | Soft gel, easy to squeeze and drop | Thicker gel/paste in pots or tubes |
| Strength | Very concentrated; strong reds and brights | Good everyday strength; some shades need more product |
| Dispensing | Dropper bottles, easy to dose and repeat | Pots (toothpick) or squeeze gels depending on line |
| Buttercream | Excellent; soft gel blends fast | Reliable for pastels and medium shades |
| Deep red / black | Super Red / Super Black frequently recommended | Works; may need more product or cocoa pre-tint |
| Beginner access | Specialty cake shops and online | Craft stores and many supermarkets internationally |
| Best for | Bold colour, matching brand shades, repeatable drops | Learning, small projects, mixed media kits |
Decorator forums regularly rank AmeriColor and Chefmaster above Wilton for professional buttercream work, while still noting Wilton as a usable starter brand (r/cakedecorating brand threads, favourite brand discussion).
AmeriColor: strengths and trade-offs
AmeriColor soft gels sit in squeeze bottles with narrow tips. You control drops precisely, which helps when you are matching a logo colour or batching cupcakes across two mixing bowls.
Decorators often praise Super Red and Super Black for reaching deep shades with less product than older gels. Side-by-side buttercream tests, including I Scream for Buttercream's dark colour comparison, found AmeriColor Super Red deeper and less orange than Wilton's no-taste red at similar doses, while blacks performed closely once cocoa was used to pre-darken.
Because the gel is softer, heavy doses can loosen a borderline-soft buttercream. Start with a slightly firmer icing if you know you need a lot of colour, or chill briefly after tinting.
Wilton: strengths and trade-offs
Wilton built the modern home-decorating aisle. Their gel icing colours taught a generation of bakers to ditch liquid dye. Availability is the superpower: if you need a single primary on a Sunday night in many markets, Wilton is still the name on the shelf.
Wilton gels do a solid job on pastels, medium blues, yellows and simple character cakes. For true black or no-orange red, you may use more product, wait longer for the colour to develop, or pre-tint with cocoa, the same workflow many brands need for dark shades.
Some lines come in small jars where you scoop with a clean toothpick (great hygiene practice: never dip a used stick twice). Others are squeeze gels. Always check whether you have a water-based gel (buttercream, royal icing, fondant) or a product aimed at candy.
Head-to-head on the jobs that matter
Pastel buttercream
Both work. AmeriColor's dropper makes it harder to overshoot; Wilton toothpick method is naturally conservative. Add colour, mix, wait, gels keep darkening for 30-60 minutes.
Bright kids' party colours
AmeriColor and similar professional gels usually look cleaner and more saturated on camera. Wilton can get there with more product and a white base buttercream.
Red velvet-red icing and black tiers
Use concentrated gels, consider a cocoa or chocolate buttercream base for black, and let colour rest. Comparison baking shows both Wilton and AmeriColor can reach dark shades; AmeriColor Super Red often needs less fighting against orange tones (dark colour test). Guides to bright red buttercream also frequently call for AmeriColor Super Red or equivalent professional gels (Chelsweets red buttercream method).
Royal icing and cookie floods
Soft gels from either brand tint well. Add carefully, excess gel can shift consistency. Mix a test spoon before committing a full bag.
Chocolate and candy melts
Standard water-based gels (most Wilton icing colours and AmeriColor soft gels) can seize melted chocolate. For chocolate, cocoa butter and candy melts, use oil-based colour instead, in our range that often means Colour Mill or Chefmaster Candy Colour.
What Australian bakers should actually buy
Availability and climate matter more than brand loyalty.
- Build a small gel core, black, super red, blue, yellow, pink, white. White gel brightens buttercream before other tints.
- Add oil-based colours if you colour chocolate or candy melts.
- Match the medium, gel for buttercream/fondant/royal; oil for chocolate; airbrush formula for spray work.
At Baking Pleasures we focus on gels and oil colours that perform in real Australian kitchens: browse food colouring, gel food colouring, Colour Mill and Chefmaster. Many local decorators treat Chefmaster Liqua-Gel as their everyday AmeriColor-class performer, with Colour Mill for chocolate work.
Practical dosing tips (any gel brand)
- Tint a white or lightly whitened buttercream base for cleaner brights.
- Add colour in stages; walk away for 20-30 minutes before deciding you need more.
- For black, pre-darken with cocoa or black cocoa so you use less gel and reduce any bitter edge.
- Keep a paper towel diary: "2 drops Sky Blue + 1 tip Violet = ice blue" saves future cakes.
- Never return unused icing that touched a cake into your master colour bottle.
Pair colour work with solid icing technique from our buttercream icing supplies, and finish with dusts and glitters only after the surface has set enough not to bleed.
So… AmeriColor or Wilton?
Choose AmeriColor-style soft gels when you decorate often, need repeatable drops, chase deep reds and brights, or sell cakes where colour accuracy matters.
Choose Wilton when you are starting out, need a single pot for a one-off project, or already own a set that works for your pastels.
Choose a mixed drawer (our usual advice), keep a reliable gel line for buttercream, and a dedicated oil-based line for chocolate. In the Baking Pleasures aisle that often looks like Chefmaster or similar gels + Colour Mill, rather than a single global brand doing every job.
If you are replacing watery liquid dyes this weekend, step up to gel first. The brand logo on the bottle matters less than using the right type of colour for the recipe in your bowl.
Shop the full food colouring collection online with Australia-wide delivery, or visit us in Tweed Heads to compare bottles side by side under real light before you commit.