You can create various colors of icing by mixing standard red, yellow, blue, and green food coloring into white frosting.
Mixing Food Coloring for Different Icing Colors
Here’s how you can achieve different colors using the basic food colorings. The following guide uses the reference that recommends using a standard box of red (r), yellow (y), blue (b), and green (g) food coloring to mix 1 cup of frosting with the specified number of drops:
- Pink: To create pink, mix red food coloring into your white frosting.
- 1-2 drops of red (1-2)
- Orange: Combine red and yellow food coloring.
- 3 drops of yellow and 1 drop of red (3y + 1r)
- Peach: Blend yellow and red food coloring, adding more yellow than orange
- 5 drops of yellow and 1 drop of red (5y + 1r)
- Lavender: Mix red and blue food coloring.
- 2 drops of red and 2 drops of blue (2r + 2b)
- Purple: Use more blue than you would use for lavender.
- 1 drop of red and 3 drops of blue (1r + 3b)
- Turquoise: Mix blue and green food coloring.
- 2 drops of green and 2 drops of blue (2g + 2b)
- Lime Green: Use mostly yellow with a hint of green.
- 4 drops of yellow and 1 drop of green (4y + 1g)
Tips for Mixing Food Coloring
- Start with a small amount of food coloring and add more gradually to achieve your desired shade.
- Use a toothpick or small spoon to add food coloring to avoid over-coloring.
- Mix the food coloring thoroughly into the frosting to ensure even color distribution.
- If using store-bought white frosting, the numbers in parentheses from the reference indicate the adjustments to your recipe. For example, if the reference specified 5 drops of red to 1 cup frosting, it would specify a different amount in the parentheses if using store-bought frosting.
- Remember that 100 drops of food coloring is approximately 1 teaspoon, so don't worry too much about using many drops.
By using these simple combinations of red, yellow, blue, and green food coloring, you can make a variety of vibrant colors to decorate your cakes.
