Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi

It may sound silly but need to know urgently since I am making birthday cake for tomorrow , how much food colour is OK to add in icing ? I am making a whipped cream frosted cake (kid demanded it). To make red colour I added almost 2 tablespoon red liquid colour (Dr oetker) to cream , since white colour of cream was making it pinkish , I just need to know with anyone’s experience , is it safe to add any amount of food colour (nothing mention on bottle)

Hi Neha28, I always worry about how much colouring goes into stuff kids will eat…my daughter was hyperactive and it was red food colouring set her off every time. Thankfully she is an adult now!

I have noticed myself how much colour goes into making a particular shade and it cannot be helped. If it makes it any easier buy it already coloured and then you don’t know how much goes in…lol…as for guidelines for the amounts, as far as I am aware there aren’t any!

The UK is the only EU country to permit the use of some food additives and colouring is one of them, they have been banned elsewhere. Our food standards agency deem fit to state it is safe to use and does not need any guidelines.

If the customer wants red then red it will be! By the way I use the gel type colours as they don’t make the fondant watery. You can buy them in Asda, Tesco etc

Does anyone else agree that our additives need to be more carefully regulated?

Thanks Jgibb

I used red and yellow colour , red was still fine though it is till pinkish and I am not very interested in adding more colour , but yellow frosting tasted bitter so I had to throw it away , couldnt risk it with kids. Finally I have to go with pinkish red and pale yellow :).

I guess we should avoid much quantity of colour if cake is specifically for kids party

I think this is one benefit of an airbrush, because you can use white paste, and then you’re just colouring the outer skin. Having said that, it’s a costly investment, if you don’t need to use the deeper colours very often, or in great amounts.

Hi,
i never use liquid colouring as it isn’t strong enough to get a deep colour, i always use a paste colour, also you only need a tiny amount on the end of a cocktail stick, added to icing, buttercream even cake batter, always add a little at a time, till you are happy with the depth of the colour you require.Paste colours are a bit more costly and looks small but the tub lasts for a long time and the colour doesn’t diminish.Hope this is help…..

Thank you all for suggestions

Sharon 🙁 airbrush is way tooooooo costly for an amateur like me ,
but I like the idea of using gel colours or maybe , readymade colored fondant in future

Hi Neha

Dr Oetker make concentrated gel colours which would be suitable for frosting. The colours are quite new but are available in the supermarkets in the baking aisle with the rest of Dr Oetker products.