Substitute for red/pink food colouring?

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• annette kurten Posts: 39,543

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  22/11/12 - 09:57 #2

  beetroot juice might work, don`t know if it tastes of owt though. or paprika maybe, that doesn`t have much of a taste.
  
  edit:

  Brighten up your baked goods with natural alternatives to synthetic dyes. To make red velvet cake without a bottle of red food coloring, try using the juice from a can of beets and substituting it for the part of the liquid in the recipe. The flavor of the beets will not affect the flavor as the sugar seems to cover it up. This recipe uses grated beets for its red tone at Dying For Chocolate. Here is another recipe that gets its coloring from beets, but also uses unprocessed cocoa powder to produce a deeper red at Bittersweet Blog.

  
  http://ctgreenscene.typepad.com/ct_green_scene/2011/02/goodbye-food-dye.html

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• [Deleted User] Posts: 2,070

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  22/11/12 - 11:32 #3

  annette kurten wrote: »

  beetroot juice might work, don`t know if it tastes of owt though. or paprika maybe, that doesn`t have much of a taste.
  
  edit:
  
  http://ctgreenscene.typepad.com/ct_green_scene/2011/02/goodbye-food-dye.html

  
  Thank you.

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• Victoria Sponge Posts: 16,645

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  22/11/12 - 12:38 #4

  Yes I agree with qbeetroot juice, I think it's quite popularly used as a natural food dye. And you'd get the most beautiful colour from it.

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• JulesF Posts: 6,461

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  22/11/12 - 16:23 #5

  I wouldn't use paprika! It does have a flavour and can be very hot.
  
  Beetroot is your best bet. I've seen Hugh F-W using it to colour marshmallows. You might find his recipe floating around on the net somewhere.

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• degsyhufc Posts: 59,251

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  22/11/12 - 17:32 #6

  Do you think you would use up a full carton of beetroot juice?
  You can keep the little jar of food colouring in the cupboard for ever. In 5 years time when you want to make some pink cakes again it'll be there.

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• gemma-the-husky Posts: 18,116

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  22/11/12 - 23:13 #7

  i would buy the red colouring personally.
  
  you will probably waste more trying to discover an alternative

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• statenisland Posts: 635

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  22/11/12 - 23:44 #8

  gemma-the-husky wrote: »

  i would buy the red colouring personally.
  
  you will probably waste more trying to discover an alternative

  
  agreed

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• amyawake Posts: 7,848

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  22/11/12 - 23:58 #9

  How about pomegranate juice? Just cut into it, on a plate, and it will render its juice. Nice deep red colour and, although it may be a little sharp, the sugar in the cake should counteract this.

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• annette kurten Posts: 39,543

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  23/11/12 - 01:57 #10

  JulesF wrote: »

  I wouldn't use paprika! It does have a flavour and can be very hot.
  
  Beetroot is your best bet. I've seen Hugh F-W using it to colour marshmallows. You might find his recipe floating around on the net somewhere.

  
  must be me then.

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• [Deleted User] Posts: 3,482

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  23/11/12 - 18:54 #11

  MICH78 wrote: »

  I need to make a red or pink cake but don't really want to buy food colouring. Nothing to do with dietry requirements, i just know that i'm unlikely to use it again, so spending nearly £1 on top of my other baking costs, is a lot for 1 teaspoon.
  
  Does anyone know of a cheap alternative, please?

  
  Is it to colour cake or icing?

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