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Natural Dyes for Buttercream Frosting


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  • Author: Kelsey Hilts {Itsy Bitsy Foodies}
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 12-24 cupcakes 1x

Description

Coloring buttercream frosting with natural dyes is surprisingly simple and creates a fun family learning experience. Not to mention that I’d much rather have my family consume a little beet or carrot juice than a chemical dye!


Ingredients

Scale

Buttercream frosting

  • 1 lb (3 ¾ cup) (453g) powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup (114,7g) butter, softened
  • 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla
  • 3 Tbsp (44mL) milk

Pink frosting

  • Beet juice

Orange frosting

  • Carrot juice

Green frosting

  • Spinach juice

Purple frosting

  • Grape juice concentrate (*Make sure that the brand of juice you use doesn’t add food coloring!)

Instructions

  1. Cream the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and milk until a smooth frosting forms.
  2. Divide the frosting into separate bowls to make the different colors. Adding the fruit/veggie juices will affect the consistency of the frosting so you can add more powdered sugar or reduce the amount of milk to compensate for the added liquid.
  3. I made small quantities for experimental purposes but you can use the following ratios for any batch size. You can also change the shade of color by adjusting the amount of fruit/veggie juice.

Pink frosting

  1. Mix roughly 1/4 tsp (1,2mL) beet juice with 2 Tbsp (2 spoonfuls) frosting. (I just used the juice from a can of beets.)

Orange frosting

  1. Mix roughly 1/2 tsp carrot (2,4mL) juice with 2 Tbsp (2 spoonfuls) frosting.

Green frosting

  1. Mix roughly 1/2 tsp (2,4mL) spinach juice with 2 Tbsp (2 spoonfuls) frosting.

Purple frosting

  1. Mix roughly 1/4 tsp (1,2mL) grape juice concentrate with 2 Tbsp (2 spoonfuls) frosting.
  • Prep Time: 20 mins