Cake Decorating: How to Color Frosting or Icing

Judging a cake by its frosting is just as common as judging a book by its cover, so make sure you know the best ways to get the perfect icing color.

Always start with white icing and use a frosting coloring that will not affect the consistency of your frosting. If you use typical food coloring this can thin down your frosting and make it harder to get decorate with. The only time you should start with a non-white frosting is if you are planning on making it dark brown or black. For this you should begin with chocolate frosting. If you added enough coloring to white frosting to make it black you would be left with an awful aftertaste.

To mix in the color, simply dip a toothpick into the color and swirl it into your frosting. Add the color a little at a time until you get the color you want. It's always easier to add more color than it is to add more frosting so be careful not to make it darker than you want. Each time you add more color use a new toothpick. If you get icing into the jar of color it won't last as long. Once you get a color you are happy with blend the frosting well with a spatula.

The type of frosting you are making also will affect how much color you need. If you are using buttercream, keep in mind that the colors will intensify or darken after a few hours. If you are using royal icing you are going to need to add more color to reach the same color as the buttercream.

Also be sure to always mix more than enough of what you will need for each color. It is never easy to duplicate the same color twice so its always best to have extra than to have a multi-shade cake.

There are a few ways to get striping effects when you are frosting a cake. One way is when you are piping with a bag. You can get a two-tone effect by putting two different colors in your piping bag.

Another way to get stripes using a piping bag is to brush straight icing color onto the inside of the bag. You can apply as many stripes as you want in any pattern, with a decorating brush. Then simply fill the bag as usual with white or a light colored frosting. As the frosting is pushed past the color is will come out in stripes.