When I first started cake decorating, I was horrified to discover that I needed like half a bottle of Queens liquid food colouring to colour my buttercream red - and that was even using their super red blend! And it was the same for any bright/dark colour for that matter!

Not only would you end up with a stained mouth from the colour leaching (and it’ll leach someone where else too *hint - your number twos!), but all that food colouring could also affect your buttercream’s texture and flavour!

It was a good thing that I liked pastel colours, but sometimes you just can’t avoid those vibrant colours, especially when you’re doing kids birthdays or Valentine’s & Christmas themes! So I searched for a better way to colour buttercream, and now I don’t cringe when I have to make brightly coloured buttercream anymore (although I still prefer a pastel palette)!

Allow me to share the tips and techniques I’ve discovered, so that you too can easily achieve vibrant and/or dark coloured buttercream every time!

1. Start Right (White)

The key to vibrant buttercream starts with the right base. To achieve the truest and most vibrant hues, you should begin with a white buttercream (as white as you can get or a light-coloured buttercream). 

2. Avoid The Liquids

Remember my story earlier about the liquid food colouring? They’re perfectly fine for pastel or lighter hues, but if you want intense, vibrant colours then you’re better off with a gel or powder. These are more concentrated than liquid colours so you don’t need to use as much, and you won’t have to worry about changing your buttercream consistency. 

Alternatively, I am a HUGE fan of Colour Mill oil-based colours! Because they are oil-based, they actually blend with the oil/fats in your butter really well to create beautiful, vibrant colours without streaking/leaking. #notsponsored

3. Give It Time

Some colours will deepen over time so you need to give your buttercream time to sit and let the colours develop properly. Because of this, you’ll want to gradually add colour to your buttercream because it’ll be harder to fix if it ends up being darker than your desired shade. While most people say a few hours is enough, I personally prefer to let it sit overnight in the fridge. If you’re short on time though, don’t worry - I’ve got you covered in my next tip!

4. Warm It Up

Have you ever noticed that when you’re piping buttercream, the colour of your buttercream starts to change the longer you keep piping from the same bag? That’s because heat can change/deepen the colour of your buttercream! So if ever I need to speed-develop my buttercream colours, I simply stick the bowl into the microwave and heat in a couple of short 5s bursts, making sure to stir well in between. You do want to be careful not to melt the buttercream though (but if you do, just stick it in the fridge/freezer to solidify again)!

5. Colour Theory

If you’ve ever studied art then you might have heard of Colour Theory. If you haven’t, it’s essentially about how you can use primary colours (like red, blue, and yellow) to create other colours, and form a colour wheel with different shades and tints of those colours. If that’s a little confusing to understand, then just think about how coloured printers work - they only have 3 ink colours, but are able to print whatever colour we want!

So if you apply the Colour Theory to colouring your buttercream, you’ll find that you don’t need to use as much food colouring, and also not as many different colours! Instead of using a lot of just one ready-made colour, you might be able to make that same colour using less food colouring by combining different colours instead! For example, if I wanted to make red buttercream, instead of using a large amount of red food colouring, I might start off with a bright/hot pink or even a brown colour before adding the red - that way, I don’t need to use as much food colouring to get a deep/vibrant shade of red!

There you have it! So the next time you’re colouring buttercream and want to achieve a nice vibrant colour, try these tips that I’ve mentioned and let me know how you go!

And for more cake tips and techniques like these, click HERE to get a copy of my FREE eBook “The Ultimate Guide to Baking & Decorating Buttercream Cakes”.