Must-Know Tips for Making the Most of Food Coloring

[CharlesH95]

1. Always start small
Always begin mixing your food coloring in small amounts, building the color up over time. It’s oh so much easier to add color in than to remove it in case you go too bright or too dark. It takes more time, but it’ll be a heck of a lot quicker and easier than starting all over again.

Chalkboard vintage cake by Juniper Cakery
2. Color develops over time
Food color develops and gets darker over time. This is essential to know, especially when tinting fondant red or black. Instead of adding in more and more coloring, let your fondant (or buttercream or royal icing) sit for 10 to 15 minutes and check to see how much it has darkened.

For matching food-colored items to specific palettes, it helps to stop a shade or two before you need to. Leave your work to sit for a few minutes and then check the color.

Types of food coloring
3. There’s a difference between powdered, natural, liquid and gel colors
There are different types of food color on the market, so it helps to know which works best for you and for your project. Check out our quick guide below:

Powdered coloring
Powdered colorings can be slightly hard to find — they’re not going to be in the baking aisle of your local grocery store or even craft shop. You’ll have more luck online — Craftsy has a good selection.

The list of colors available as powder can be limiting, which means you’ll need to adjust and mix them up yourself. Also, adding too much powder into your mix (be it batter, cookie dough or fondant) can dry out your consistency.

Natural coloring
These plant-based colorings are great for anyone who wants to avoid synthetic colorants. They do, however, yield some pretty dull results. If your aim is to create a rainbow layer cake, don’t use natural coloring — you’re just not going to get the vibrant, fun results you want. Natural colors can also be harder to find. Try an online search or a specialty health food shop.

Gel or paste coloring
These colorings contain glycerine and/or corn syrup, which gives them a thicker, gel-like consistency. For us, gel colorings are a great option when adding color to batters. They’re vibrant, readily available and they don’t affect the consistency of your mixture. They’re also pretty concentrated, so they’re perfect for vibrant creations.

Liquid coloring
Liquid food dyes come in miniature bottles. They can be very watery in consistency, which can really thin out your batter, dough or icing. We generally advise that cake decorators stay away from these, as they can compromise your batter and result in a sinking cake or even in a mix that doesn’t rise.

Liquid gel coloring
Liquid gel colorants are similar in consistency to runny honey. They’re a bit like a cross between liquid food dyes and gel/paste coloring. You’ll usually find them packaged in a squeeze tube or flip-cap bottle. We use food coloring in this form the most!

How to naturally add color to cakes
4. You can add color without food coloring
If you want to add color to your homemade bakes without using any food coloring at all (even store-bought natural colors) there are a few ways you can do this.

Pomegranate juice
Fresh pomegranate juice, straight from the fruit, can create a vibrant to pastel pink. It’s perfect in sugary glazes for loaf cakes or doughnuts (just like our carrot, pomegranate and pistachio loaf above).

Beets
It’s possible to add the red in red velvet cakes using grated beets (or beetroot in the U.K.).

Edible petals
Bright, edible petals are great for adding pops of color on top of frosted cupcakes and cakes.

Tips for using food coloring
5. Use natural light
Always color by natural lighting to get an accurate view of the colors you’re creating. A lot of artificial lighting gives off a dull, yellowish glow that can make colors look totally off. Imagine coloring green for a specific order and in daylight it’s actually a more blue toned color — not good!

[run3donlineaz]

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