NOTE: If possible, make this frosting at least three days in advance. As you thaw the frosting, let it sit out overnight at room temperature to develop a super deep red color. It’s harder to find online, and while it does make the frosting taste better, there still is a tiny bit of aftertaste. Wilton also have the white colouring that I often use on my blog with recipes such as my rainbow cake, and my blogs 7th birthday cake. It’s quite liquid in comparison to the other colours, but I really do love it! For a printer friendly version, see the recipe card at the end of this post) Ingredients and equipment

I always use the Americolor brand (not sponsored, just my very favorite food coloring)! I like to use the super red shade when making red buttercream. Alternative Food Colorings

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Below are the most important tips I learned while testing out what ingredients and methods work best for making bright red frosting. Use The Right Type of Food Coloring It also allows you to use way less red food coloring, which I think we can all agree is the goal here. Like I mentioned above, another great way to avoid bitter taste is to use powdered red food coloring! It works great, and you can’t taste it at all!! Flavor Your Red Frosting Make a white chocolate ganache and colour it red with food colouring. Cover the cake with the ganache and let it drip down the sides, add some extra buttercream around the top and some red sprinkles.

You can enjoy red velvet cakes anytime of year, but I do think they lend themselves particularly well to Halloween with their bright red centres. This Halloween Red Velvet Drip Cake is made with three gloriously scarlet sponges, filled with red fruit jam, covered in sweet vanilla buttercream and dripping in a blood red white chocolate ganache for that spooky factor! It would make a great centrepiece for a Halloween party, try displaying it with a plastic knife stabbed in the centre! Or if it's not the time of year to scare your guests then omit the ganache and serve a pretty red velvet cake instead! Ingredient Tips & Equipment InformationFlour: You need regular plain/all purpose flour for this, don’t use self raising as it has raising agents in it which we don’t want in a brownie. I’ve also tried out beetroot powder, which doesn’t give as vibrant of a color, but is a great alternative to gel food coloring. Surprisingly it doesn’t really change the taste of the frosting! I actually added a lot more red gel food coloring to the frosting made the day of, and it still wasn’t really a deep shade of red.

I love the pink from the colour splash set and used it on the drip for my rainbow cake– and it made such a vibrant and beautiful pink colour with so little added to the ganache! It also works with even less, to make a beautiful pale pink such as with my 29th birthday cake! Yes! For gluten free you can replace the self raising flour with a gluten free self raising flour blend. If you only have a gluten free plain flour blend, you will need to add additonal baking powder. The general advice is to add 2 tsp baking powder per 200g flour, so for this recipe you'd need to add 5 teaspoons baking powder. You may also like to add 1 tsp Xantham Gum for better texture. For a dairy free version, use a dairy free baking spread and dairy free buttermilk for the cake, and dairy free spread and dairy free milk for the buttercream. Can this cake be made with two layers? I know that is such an annoying thing to say, but I have to be honest – liquid food colourings can vary so much, and the ones you can find in the supermarket are far too weak in strength, and can generally ruin your bakes – and no one wants that to happen. When you make frosting, it’s almost impossible not to incorporate air into it as you mix in the powdered sugar (I recommend using a paddle mixing attachment to help minimize this). Whether you’re making a cake for Christmas, Valentine’s Day or an Angry Birds cake, I hope these tips help you make the brightest, most delicious red buttercream!!

If you ever want to colour something brown, without it being chocolate – it is worth a good quality colouring! I often use this brown colouring as I find it creates the perfect colour.