In my decorating journey I've tried several ways to get deep dark colours in my buttercream - especially when it's fall (autumn) or winter here in Canada and I want those rich tones rather than pastels. I've searched around on the internet and have seen several "hacks" but I honestly haven't found these so-called "hacks" to be all that helpful.
So today I'm going to share with you what I do to get dark, rich colours in my buttercream. I hinted at this in my post last week so some of these tips will be familiar.
Use Gel Icing Colours
I watched my mom decorate cakes as I was growing up and she used Wilton food colouring in the little plastic pots with screw-top lids. I believe Wilton makes paste and gel colouring and they can work to colour your buttercream. I recall mom needing to buy "no taste red" and "no taste black" in order to get those colours dark enough and not have an unpleasant taste. I don't like having to use a tooth pick or a knife once and have to use a fresh one each time with the little pots so I prefer to use the gel colours that you can squeeze out by the drop. I usually use Americolor gel colouring and when I started my business I bought a "Starter Kit" that had a variety of colours. I also sometimes use Chefmaster.
Colour Your Buttercream In Advance
As I mentioned in my Make Ahead Magic post last week, the colours deepen with time so I recommend that you mix your colours in advance of when you need to decorate. The colour of the buttercream will even deepen after you've decorated your cake or cupcakes so don't be too heavy handed with your colours! I usually make colours like red, black, dark purple, burgundy and fall colours at least the day before. This allows the colour to deepen and if it's not quite as dark as you need it to be, you still have time to add a bit more.
Start With a Base Colour
I have often read that if you want a deep, dark, rich red coloured buttercream, start with some pink in your buttercream. This will prevent you from using up all your red icing colour. For a colour like black, it's possible to use excess buttercream of another colour - mix your scraps of other buttercream together - then add black afterwards. This method will require less black icing colour than if you started with white or natural buttercream.
Consider Using Other Ingredients in Your Buttercream
I discovered a recipe on the internet last year that was for black buttercream and the way the blogger was able to get such a dark black was by using black cocoa powder! Now, using the black cocoa powder in your recipe will definitely make it a chocolate buttercream so only do this if that is the flavour you are looking for. Black cocoa powder can be somewhat bitter so be sure to use a recipe. Some folks choose to add other powders like beet root powder to add a red or pink colour to their buttercream. This would also be a case where you would need to be careful about the taste - if you don't like the taste of beets, that may not be the kind of buttercream you want to make. Also note that you can't treat your buttercream as low-risk if you add other "foods" into the recipe. My recipe is okay at room temperature for up to 3 days because it only includes butter, icing sugar, and vanilla. If you choose to add other ingredients, keep your buttercream refrigerated to ensure it does not spoil.
Easy Does It!
Over-colouring is easy to do. If we're feeling impatient, we just keep squeezing more and more into the buttercream. Resist the urge to keep adding (you be better than my impatient self!)! When your buttercream get's close to the shade you want - STOP! Make sure you are colouring the buttercream with enough time to let it deepen at least overnight. It will often be dark enough the next day if you stopped just before you thought it was dark enough.
Beware of "Hacks"
On the internet I've seen others say to take some of your buttercream aside in a separate bowl, add the gel colour, the microwave it until it melts and the colour will deepen right away. Then you add back the melted, coloured buttercream to your main bowl of buttercream. I've tried this and haven't found that it makes much of a difference for me. I recommend following the other tips I've mentioned above and you'll get your deep, rich colours in no time (or at least, a little time to allow the colour to deepen and develop! 😉).
So there you have it - a few of my tips and tricks to getting those deeper colours in your buttercream.
Let me know: what have you tried to deepen you buttercream colours? What techniques have not worked for you? What has worked best?
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