How to Color Frosting Black

Black frosting makes your Halloween cupcakes stand out and your cow-print cake complete. Turning snowy-white frosting true black is tricky. The standard package of primary food coloring at the supermarket lacks black entirely. You can create a mildly convincing substitute using a mixture of primary colors, but the result is closer to a deep dark purple than black. Truly black frosting requires special black coloring or gel. Companies like McCormick and Fancy Flours sell single bottles of black food coloring for less than $5, as of 2011.

Things You'll Need

• White frosting
• Black food coloring
• Large spoon
• Mixing bowel

Instructions

1. Place 3 cups of white frosting in a mixing bowl large enough to accommodate vigorous mixing without spilling over the sides. Black frosting stains easily.

2. Add 20 drops of black food coloring into the bowl and blend thoroughly with the frosting. The result will give you a baseline of how much more coloring to add. Coloring the frosting incrementally prevents you from adding more than necessary and tainting the flavor.

3. Add ten more drops and blend thoroughly. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the color. The intensity of black dye varies by brand. Some brands may require the entire bottle to turn white frosting black, while others need only two-thirds to achieve the same results.

Tips & Warnings

• Apply the black frosting after all the other colors on your dessert to limit discoloration and smearing.

• Black frosting typically has a bitter flavor due to the large quantity of dye. Keep this in mind when decorating.

References

• Sugar Craft: Color Mixing Chart

Resources

• McCormick: Black Food Color
• Fancy Flours: Black Food Coloring