6 Things From The Food Colouring Bible

It’s in your cake, it’s in your frosting, it’s in your candy, and several other items that you probable didn’t know about yet. But it’s the one that adds colour to your food, literally. Food colouring is popularly used all over the world to enhance colours in your food and is mostly a must-have for everyone who is in to the culinary arts, especially if you’re whipping up cakes and edible decor. Do you want to get your hands on some food colouring and start experimenting? Here’s what you need to know before you begin.

1. When To Use Liquid Colours

Use liquid colouring for tinting icings and batters. Keep them away from any red velvet recipe since it is water based. The amount required to have a deeper colour could possibly affect the outcome of the recipe.

2. When To Get The Gel Out

Use liquid gel colours for cakes and icings that require a deep colour. As this contains minimal liquid, a small drop can greatly change the colour of your batter or icing. But beware, do not use them in stiff batters (like cookie doughs) as they will not mix well.

3. Wait Until You Can Finally Judge

Added lots of colour but can’t seem to make your frosting stronger? Let it sit for a while before you decide to throw in more colour. The longer you let icing sit, the stronger the colour will turn out to be!

4. Get Mixing With Daylight

This is something everyone needs to know when using food colouring. The lighting around you may not be the best way to determine the colour of your product as you mix food colouring into it, be it liquid or dry icing. Natural lighting like daylight is the best way to see what the colours of your product really look like before you decide to add more colour to it.

5. Start Small. It Helps.

Always start with less colour than the recipe indicates. Always. You never know what the outcome can be based on the ratios and starting with lesser colour works better because if you’re not satisfied with the colour you can always add more to it. But when you’ve made the colours too strong, they can’t be reduced unless you improvise on your recipe to increase ingrdient quantites (which sometimes work, and sometimes don’t).

6. Get Rid Of Stains

Finally, stains. Yes, food colouring can leave some stains on our skin as well as surfaces. The best way to remove them is by gently washing them with soap and water first. If the stains don’t seem to fade, acids like vinegar and lemon juice can be rubbed to help get rid of the colours.