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Here are three tricks to make super bold and bright red frosting
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To make red frosting you'll need red food colouring, ideally a gel colour rather than the
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liquids you buy in the supermarket or grocery store because gels are much more concentrated
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which means brighter colours without watering down your frosting and making it too runny
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Start with a generous squirt and mix it into the frosting. This is a light shade of red but for a
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truly bright red there are three tricks to develop the colour without using more gel
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Let's divide this frosting into three bowls to compare the three methods
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The first way to make a brighter red is the resting method. Cover the bowl with plastic
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wrap and leave it for at least an hour to give the colour a chance to develop
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We'll look at the results of this in a moment. The second method is the chilling method
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Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it into the freezer for 15 minutes or into the
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fridge for 30 minutes. The third method is the microwave method. Scoop out a third of the
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frosting and microwave it for just 10 seconds. The butter in the buttercream will melt but let
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it come to room temperature and you'll be shocked at what happens! Now let's take a look at the
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results. After an hour on the counter the red gel has had a chance to develop and the colour is
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definitely a few shades darker than it was at the beginning. It's still not a true red but a bit of
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time has made a brighter colour without needing to use more gel. The red frosting that was in the
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freezer has developed just as much in 15 minutes as the red frosting at room temperature for an
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hour so chilling the frosting does speed up the process significantly. After microwaving a third
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of this frosting for just 10 seconds it's significantly darker and when this is mixed
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into the rest of the bowl of frosting it does make a much brighter red. The consistency isn't
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quite right because the microwaved frosting melted but let's leave this for 10 minutes for it
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to come back to room temperature and now it's much better, smooth and silky like it should be
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so this can be used for frosting a cake or piping and the consistency will be just right
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So chilling red frosting in the freezer for 15 minutes and resting have the same effect of
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slightly darkening the red colour. To take your buttercream from a medium shade of red all the
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way to a truly bright and bold red, use the microwave method. The final trick is how to avoid
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the bitter taste that gel colours create when you use a lot. Add some clear vanilla or almond extract
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and you'll disguise any bitterness without changing the colour of the red buttercream at all
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Delicious! I hope this tutorial has been useful. Visit my cake school on britishgirlbakes.com for
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hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs. Thanks for watching
