Cake Decorating: How to Get a Dark Colored Icing

A common mystery in cake decorating is dark colored icing. Many people find that no matter how much food coloring they are adding to their frosting they can't get it past grey or pink when they are actually trying for black or bright red. Blue, red, black and brown are the most difficult colors to make. Here are some tips to help you easily get your icing to a nice rich, dark color.

The most important thing you can do is use quality food coloring. The food coloring that is commonly bought at the grocery store will never get you to a dark color because it is so watered down to begin with. A name brand cake decorating coloring, such as Wilton or Americolor, will give you much better results, and you won't have to use as much.

Normally when you are adding color to icing you dip a toothpick into the color and slowly mix that in. If you want a dark color you are going to need to add spatulas full of color, not toothpicks.

It is also helpful to split up your icing and color smaller amounts at a time. Break your frosting up into 3 or more small batches and color them all to a similar shade of whatever dark color you are aiming for. Then, mix all the batches together to get one consistent color. This will also help you use less coloring.

If you need a dark brown or black icing, it is much easier to start with chocolate frosting than to start with white. You will use much less coloring this way, and won't have to worry about too much coloring leaving your frosting with an unpleasant aftertaste.

Once you have your color all mixed in, let your frosting rest for a while before you start to frost your cake. The color will darken over time. This is especially true with buttercream frosting. You might even want to mix your color a little lighten than you need just to be sure it doesn't turn too dark after sitting for a few hours.

Sometimes, no matter how careful you are to use the least amount of coloring needed, you will still be left wit a bitter aftertaste in your icing from the coloring. If this happens, try adding a few drops of lemon juice to your icing to get rid of the bitter taste.