Wilton Cake Dyes

Determining the Colors Present in Wilton Cake Dyes



Wilton Industries makes a set of "color pastes" designed to be mixed into the frosting used on cakes. The basic set contains eight colors. Small amounts of the pastes were dissolved in water and then spotted onto a TLC plate. Also spotted on the plates were pure samples of the dyes suspected to be present. This allowed for a direct comparison of the unknown sample spots and the pure standard spots. The plates were then developed using a butanol-methyl ethyl ketone-water-ammonia solvent system.

Examine the results and determine what dyes are present in the unknown.


Violet, Christmas Red, Lemon Yellow, Leaf Green



Orange, Brown, Pink, Sky Blue