Gel Food Colouring

Gel colourings are a firm favourite with hobby bakers and professional cake makers alike! They pack a serious punch and can deliver vibrant, beautifully blended colour to your bakes that doesn’t fade. Perfect for colouring your buttercreams and frostings, your sugarpaste (fondant icing) and more! 

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

The difference between liquid food colouring and gel food colouring is the base, the colour payoff and the texture. 

Gel colourings are perfect for creating intense colours. They have a thicker consistency, and some have an oil-base, which works well with chocolate, ganache and buttercream. Professionals often turn to gels to colour their bakes. 

Liquid colourings, on the other hand, usually have a water base. This leads to a thinner, more diluted colouring. While this is ideal for pastel hues, it isn’t as great for bold cake decorating. The waterier consistency can also alter the texture of your baking mixture if you use too much. 

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

DOES GEL FOOD COLOURING WORK IN BUTTERCREAM? 

Yes, absolutely. Gel food colourings can help you to achieve a really beautiful, bold colour for your buttercream. It is worth noting, however, that they are often highly concentrated and so you have to be careful with the amount you use! For gentler tones, start with a tiny bit of colouring, even on a cocktail stick if you’re just making up a small batch of buttercream, and build up from there! 

On the other hand, if you’re going for a vibrant shade, you don’t need to be quite as cautious! 

DOES GEL FOOD COLOURING WORK IN CHOCOLATE? 

You want to choose an oil-based gel food colouring for working with chocolate. This is because the oil-base will work with the fat in the chocolate (or ganache or buttercream). Because this is how these colourings are designed, it means they won’t mess with the texture of your chocolate, and the colour will be really vibrant. 

HOW TO USE GEL COLOURINGS WHEN MAKING A CAKE. 

You can use your gel food colouring in several different stages of cake making! 

First, you can use it to colour your cake batter or buttercream. To do that, simply add a drop or two of colouring into your batter or frosting and thoroughly mix it in. Build up a little at a time until you’re happy. 

For colouring sugarpaste/fondant icing or modelling paste, again add a drop or two into your paste and then knead it in. Make sure you knead it completely for one solid colour, or be less precise for a marbled effect! 

And finally, you can use gel colours to paint onto sugarpaste etc. Just use food-safe cake brushes! 

WHAT DO I NEED TO BUY TO USE GEL COLOURING? 

There isn’t anything specific that you must have to use gel colouring – other than the colouring itself! However, colouring your cakes will involve other baking essentials, so here are a few to browse. 

Other items that you may need if you are using gel colourings are: 

Piping bags and piping tips: from elegant Lambeth designs to simple cupcakes, you’ll need piping tools and equipment to decorate using your newly coloured buttercream! 

Icing Whitener: Use an icing whitener to cancel out the naturally yellow undertone of buttercream. Once you’ve done this, you’ll achieve a truer shade from your gel colouring. 

Fondant rolling pin: Roll out your pretty pastel or vibrant sugarpaste with a non-stick rolling pin made of plastic, to keep everything perfectly smooth.