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It was my cousin’s birthday this weekend and she requested a red velvet cake with red buttercream. Making red buttercream can be a little scary so I thought this would be a great opportunity to share with you how I achieve a deep red buttercream without having to use an entire bottle of red food coloring. It’s possible, I promise!
Use these tricks for all your upcoming Valentine’s Day treats!
Keep in mind that deep colors do require a bigger amount of food coloring so don’t be alarmed. I have not had an issue with my deep colored buttercream having a bitter aftertaste. If you sell cakes and find that your deep colored buttercream has a bitter aftertaste, you can educate your customer about the process for achieving deep colors and advise them that the outside frosting can be for decorative purposes only.
To Achieve a Deep Red Buttercream Use the Following Tricks:
1. Start with a deep pink base
Starting with deep pink food coloring makes it much easier to color the buttercream red and it requires less red food coloring. Staring with the original color of the buttercream will require a much higher amount of red color.
2. Add cocoa powder
Using a small amount of cocoa powder creates a beautiful deep brick red. You must be careful though, adding too much cocoa powder can turn the buttercream maroon/brown.
Omit this trick if you don’t want your buttercream to have a slight cocoa flavor.
You can use any brand of cocoa powder you’d like.
I use this one found on Amazon. It lasts me a while and I also use it for all my chocolate bakes.
3. Use powdered(gel) food coloring
Powdered food coloring works best for deep buttercream colors. It won’t alter the consistency of your buttercream and a small amount is more concentrated than using a large amount of liquid gel colors. I exclusively use The Master Elite Collection by The Sugar Art.
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4. Allow for your color to develop
This is very important! When you first add the color it is going to look like it’s not enough and you will want to keep adding, DON’T! As the color sits you’ll notice that it starts to deepen.
To make sure your food coloring reaches your desired intensity, I suggest preparing your buttercream a day prior to using it. Let it develop in the fridge overnight, and if the color is not as deep as you’d like it, rewhip the buttercream and add a little more color.
** Bring the buttercream to room temperature before rewhipping it. It may lighten in color as you rewhip it, but you just have to allow for the color to develop again**
5. Buy pre-made red buttercream from your local grocery store or Amazon
Pre-made buttercream is a great alternative if you’re short on time or just don’t want to go through the hassle of making it yourself.
For Reference
The cake in this post is a 2 layer 6 in x 2 in cake. I used 1 cup(230g) of butter and 2 cups(190g) of powdered sugar.
I added 1/4 tsp Master Elite in “Deep Pink”, 1/4 tsp Master Elite in “Red Rose”, and 2 tsp of cocoa powder. I frosted the cake the same day I made the buttercream & the color developed in the fridge.
Here is my gorgeous cousin with her beautiful red cake! If you are into fashion I highly recommend following her on Instagram & Tik Tok for outfit inspo!
Thank you for reading this far and let me know if you have any questions!
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