Liquid Food Colouring

Liquid colourings are one of the most popular ways to add a pop of colour to your bakes. Mix them into your buttercreams and frostings, or use to colour your sugarpaste (fondant icing) for colourful cakey creations! 

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIQUID AND GEL FOOD COLOURING? 

Liquid food colouring usually has a water base, which makes it a thinner consistency. It’s more diluted, so creates lighter colours and is great for casual baking projects or times when you don’t need your colour to be too intense.  

Gel colourings are thicker and add darker, bolder, more intense colour to your bakes. They are usually what professional cake artists will pick for their showstopping cakes! 

Check out our blog if you want to learn more about the difference between the different types of food colourings.  

CAN YOU USE LIQUID COLOURINGS IN BUTTERCREAM? 

Yes, absolutely. Liquid colourings are a good choice if you are looking to make a subtle or more pastel colour of buttercream. However, for more vibrant tones, we recommend working with an oil-based gel colouring.  

CAN YOU USE LIQUID COLOURINGS IN CHOCOLATE? 

We would not recommend a water-based liquid colouring for your chocolate. While buttercream may just turn out a little less vibrant, chocolate may harden looking lumpy or bumpy if coloured with an ordinary liquid. 

Oil based colourings, however, are specifically designed to work with the fats in products like chocolate, ganache and buttercream. This means you’ll achieve maximum colour payoff, without disturbing the consistency of your chocolate. A win-win! 

WILL LIQUID FOOD COLOURING AFFECT THE TEXTURE OF MY CAKE? 

Liquid food colouring is thinner than a gel thanks to its water base. This does mean that it can thin the consistency of whatever you are using it to colour. Because you need to use more to achieve a darker colour, watch out for it making your cake batter, buttercream, frosting, etc, too runny. 

DO I NEED SPECIFIC TOOLS TO WORK WITH LIQUID COLOURING? 

You do not really need any special tools to work effectively with liquid food colouring. A mixing bowl is handy, something that won’t stain or you use only for working with colourings. 

Other tools that you may need if you are using liquid colourings are: 

Fondant rolling pin: Choose a non-stick rolling pin made of plastic to roll out your newly coloured sugarpaste icing without it sticking. 

Piping bags and piping tips: to pipe your beautifully coloured buttercream or frosting on to your cakes and bakes. 

Icing Whitener: Using an icing whitener can make a really big difference to the colour of your buttercream. Use it to counteract the natural yellow undertone of your buttercream before adding your liquid colouring for a truer hue. 

Food safe brushes: Cake brushes are always useful and you can use them to paint on icing with your liquid colourings!