This tutorial shows you the best way to color buttercream frosting, including creating both pastels and vibrant colors – perfect for cakes and cupcakes!
Decorated cakes and cupcakes are a staple of just about any party. I personally love making themed cakes, cupcakes, and cookies (just check out my Instagram).
But, creating the perfect decorated desserts often starts with getting the right shade of buttercream frosting. And, while it's not difficult there are many tips and tricks to get that perfect shade.
In this tutorial we'll go over my favorite methods of getting right shade of frosting, along with some troubleshooting tips. Let's dive in!
Tools and Ingredients
- Frosting: You can a color pretty much any type of light colored buttercream frosting, including store bought! Check out the FAQ for a full list of my favorite frosting recipes.
- Food coloring: I prefer gel food coloring for more vibrant colors, the liquid kind can water down the frosting and they will not be as bright.’
Optional Tools:
- Immersion Blender: This is my favorite trick for getting super bright and vibrant colors, without adding additional food coloring!
- Toothpicks: for adding small amounts of food coloring to the frosting.
- Piping Bags: For piping the frosting.
How to Make
Before coloring your frosting keep in mind:
- The colors will darken and develop as they sit.
- You can always add more color, but it is much harder to get back to a lighter shade.
Step 1: Add Food Coloring
Divide (if necessary): If you're making more than one color of frosting from one batch, divide the frosting into separate bowls – one for each color of frosting.
Light/Pastel Colors: For light or pastel colors, dip a toothpick in the gel food coloring and add to the frosting (make sure you use a new toothpick every time you add more so you don't contaminate your food coloring).
Dark Colors: For dark colors add one to two drops of food coloring per batch of frosting. Remember, you can always add more coloring but you can not take it away once mixed.
Step 2: Mix
Using a spatula, or your electric mixer, mix the food coloring into the frosting. If necessary, add more food coloring and remix, keeping in mind the color will develop and darken slightly as it sits.
If you're looking to get a super dark or vibrant color of frosting there is no need to dump a whole container of food dye into your buttercream. Check out the next section for getting your frostings dark without a ton of food coloring.
Getting Super Vibrant Colors
If you're looking to get really vibrant frosting colors, there are a few ways that do not involve adding a ton of food coloring.
The problem with adding a lot of food coloring to frosting is that it can:
- Stain your mouth, hands, and pretty much anything it touches.
- Change the flavor and texture of the frosting (this is most notable with red and black frosting which can be difficult to get dark colors).
Here are some of the best methods to get darker colors, without adding a ton of food dye:
Immersion Blender
This is my favorite trick for getting deep, dark colors. Just use an immersion blender in the bowl of frosting, and you'll see it immediatly darken. It's such a wonderful trick to get dark colors, and helps with getting a smooth frosting, without melting or changing the consistency of the frosting too much.
Check out the difference in these photos. The first is with just a tiny bit of food coloring, the second is with a few drops, and third is after blending with an immersion blender. You can see a major difference in all three:
The microwave method
Another common method for getting dark frosting is microwave either a small portion of colored frosting and mixing it back into the larger batch, or microwaving the entire batch of frosting 5-10 seconds until it is softened and dark.
This method helps darken the color quickly, but you'll need to let the frosting firm up again. It also changes the consistency of frosting, so this is not my favorite method. But, some people swear by it and frosting consistency for decorating cakes and cupcakes is often a matter of personal preference anyway, so I wanted to mention this way in case you want to give it a try!
And remember: colors will develop the longer they sit! For particularly dark colors, like red and black it helps to made a day in advance. But, all colors will darken slightly as they sit.
Tips and Tricks
- The colors will darken as they sit to if you're looking for dark colors it helps to make them ahead of time.
- Gel or powdered food coloring works best. Liquid food coloring can thin out the frosting and will not be as bright.
- I've found color takes better to frosting that has not yet been thinned out with milk or cream (or has been thinned out just a little bit). But, you can color frosting at any point.
FAQ
You have two options. You can add more uncolored frosting to lighten it up, or you can add some white food coloring to get the colors back to a lighter shade.
This tends to happen if there is too much liquid n the frosting, and/or if the food coloring is added after the frosting has been thinned out. But, there is any easy fix! Use an immersion blender to blend the frosting and it will come back to a smooth consistency (and the colors will be brighter too!).
I personally prefer Americolor or Chefmaster, but Wilton also works great!
Yes, it works for powdered food coloring as well!
Yes, colored frosting can be frozen just like normal buttercream.
Best Types of Buttercream to Color
You can color pretty much any type of buttercream frosting! American Buttercream, Swiss Meringue Buttercream, Italian Meringue, Ermine frosting– the process is exactly the same for each type.
Vanilla, almond, or other neutral colors and flavors of frosting work best for adding food coloring. But, you can definitely color other flavors, as long as you stick to the underlying shade of the frosting:
- Chocolate Frosting is great for coloring black frosting (I have whole post on back frosting here)
- Strawberry Frosting works well for pink or red frosting
- Lemon Frosting works well for yellow frosting
- Coffee Frosting works well for brown, etc.
Other than that, you can use any type of buttercream frosting you want. Check out all of my frosting recipes here (I have a lot!).
Looking for recipes using colored frosting? Check these out!
How to Color Buttercream Frosting
Equipment
- mixing bowls
- Toothpicks optional
- immersion blender optional
INGREDIENTS
Ingredients
- Buttercream Frosting
- Gel Food Coloring
Instructions
- If you're making more than one color of frosting from one batch, divide the frosting into separate bowls – one for each color of frosting.
- For light or pastel colors, dip a toothpick in the gel food coloring and add to the frosting (make sure you use a new toothpick every time you add more so you don't contaminate your food coloring).
- For dark colors add one to two drops of food coloring per batch of frosting. Remember, you can always add more coloring but you can not take it away once it’s been added.
- Using a spatula, or your electric mixer, mix the food coloring into the frosting. If necessary, add more food coloring and remix, keeping in mind the color will develop and darken slightly as it sits.
- If you're looking to get a super dark or vibrant color of frosting there is no need to dump a whole container of food dye into your buttercream! Instead, use an immersion blender in the bowl of frosting and it immediately will darken and become more vibrant.
- Use on your favorite desserts and enjoy!
Notes
- You can color just about any buttercream frosting including American Buttercream, Swiss Meringue Buttercream, etc. The process is the same.
- The colors will darken as they sit so if you're looking for dark colors it helps to color the frosting a day ahead of time.
- Gel or powdered food coloring works best. Liquid food coloring can thin out the frosting and will not be as bright.
- I've found color takes better to frosting that has not yet been thinned out with milk or cream (or has been thinned out just a little bit). But, you can color frosting at any point.
- Colored buttercream frosting can be stored and frozen just like the original recipe.
Very informative and an easy read.