Food Coloring for Baking 101: Fundamentals, Tips & Tricks
We’ve all ended up with cake batter a few shades too dark once upon a time, or perfectly colored but thinned out icing, because we added one drop too much or used the wrong style of food coloring. All these colorful little bottles and jars can be confusing if you’re new to this, but we’re here to help you and tell you all you need to know about food coloring. So let’s talk about colors!
FIRST THINGS FIRST…
There are 9 types of food coloring that are all suitable to be used with different recipes or mixtures and that will give different color intensities. We will first discuss these various styles and how/when to use them.
Gel Food Coloring.
Gel food coloring is made using vegetable glycerin. The colors are very concentrated. It is a good choice if you wish to achieve pastel colors, but you are after a stronger or darker color you would need to add a significant amount, which will thin out your mixture. Liquid food coloring is best used with other liquid medium such as syrup, water, chocolate, etc.
Liqua-Gel is also water based but contains glycerine and corn syrup, which makes it a semi-thick gel and concentrated form of food coloring. If it’s the first time you use Liqua-Gel, it is always best to start by adding one drop at a time, mixing it well and then adding another drop if needed. This way you will avoid ending up with a darker than desired color. This is the type of coloring that you can use with practically any recipe (except chocolate), as it’s not likely to affect the consistency of your mixture, but it’s also not as thick as Gel Paste and therefore easier to use.
is very popular due to its versatile uses and applications. You can practically use Liqua-Gel for most recipe, except for fat-based product such as chocolate.
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Difficulty: 2
Best for: Strong vibrant or darker colors
Use with: Icing, fondant, gum paste, batter, cake frosting
Gel Food Coloring
Gel or gel paste food coloring is much thicker than Liqua-Gel and the colors are even more concentrated and more vibrant. However it is more tricky to use as it’s very easy to add a bit too much coloring. In fact the best way to add it to your mix is by collecting a teeny tiny amount using a toothpick, incorporating it into your mix, letting it rest for 10-15 mins and then repeating if needed. Gel colors become deeper with time, that is why it’s important to let the mixture rest and see how it changes before adding more color. Because of its consistency, it is ideal for coloring large batches of icing or dough at a time.
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Difficulty: 4
Best for: Strong vibrant or darker colors
Use with: Large batches of batter or icing
Powder Food Coloring
Powder food coloring is a completely dry form of food dye with no liquid. It is perfect for mixes that are sensitive to the amount of added liquid such as chocolate or macarons. It is important to know that it does not mix with water, so it must be mixed with a few drops of clear alcohol, or if you’re incorporating it into the batter add a few drops of alcohol into the mixture. It can also be used dry to brush directly onto food as decoration. Due to its dry consistency, it is not very easy to incorporate into thick batter, and adding too much can dry out a mix. Allow the mixture to sit 5-10 mins after incorporating the dye in order to let the color fully develop.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!
It isn’t enough just to know the different styles of food coloring and the techniques of how to apply them, there are other factors that affect the final color you will end up with, even if you are following a specific color recipe.
Ingredients
The original color of your mixture will not always be white due to the presence of butter and/or eggs, which would make it more of a light yellow, think buttercream or cake batter. This means that if you add blue coloring it might end up more on the slightly green side, because blue mixed with yellow turns green. To solve this start by adding some white coloring in order to turn your mix white, and then proceed with adding the desired color.
Acidic ingredients such as lemon juice, vinegar or cream of tartar can also affect your final color, making brown colors in particular look slightly greenish, while violet might appear blue. It’s best to leave these ingredients out of recipes if you can.
Finally, if you’re trying to achieve a really dark color such as black or a very dark brown, it is best to start with a darker base such as chocolate buttercream or cake batter, this way you will need less food coloring.
Light
It is always best to use natural light when coloring. Artificial light, especially yellow, will change the way you see colors and you might end up with a different result to what you were hoping for. But while it is great to have natural light during the decoration process, once you’re done make sure you store your creation (and any left over icing) away from it, as the contact with natural light will cause colors to fade over time.
Resting time
When coloring icing or fondant, it is best to let it rest for 1-2 hours, as the color develops with time. For Buttercream and Fondant, colors will deepen over time as they dry, so it’s better to stop at a shade or two lighter than needed. For Royal icing, colors will lighten as it dries, so it’s better to make it a shade or two darker than needed.
Patience
As a general rule, if you don’t know exactly how much food coloring you will need, start by adding your dye one drop at a time, mixing it well, letting it rest and then repeat until you reach the desired color. It is never a good idea to rush and add multiple drops at a time.
And if you want to create your own color, make sure you keep track of the number of drops used for each color so you can recreate it again!