DS Forums

 
 

Does food colouring have a taste ?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 07-01-2013, 20:00
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,707

At the weekend I made some Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes.
To make the red fur on the Elmo ones, I had to use quite a lot of red liquid food colouring.
The thing is, the red buttercream had a strange taste, almost like a cream cheese.
Is this normal ? I've only used a small amount of food colourings in the past, and I've not noticed any taste before.
The food colouring I used is from the Asda.
The taste was not unpleasant, just unexpected.
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 07-01-2013, 21:00
andyccm
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: North East
Posts: 170
Its not so much a flavour if the colouring more so you will have used so much to get a vibrant red that it will have started to split/breakdown the fats in the frosting.

I did a similar thing trying red velvet whoopies

Try the colouring gels/pastes. You get a much more vibrant colour with only a small amount of colouring. I dont use anything else now
andyccm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2013, 23:00
martdcee
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 113
i second the last post about colour gels....you can get a major choice of colours of ebay. I use either wilton ones or sugarflair. Red and black take more to get a true colour but the sugarflair do a red extra and black extra which uses less
martdcee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2013, 23:15
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,707
i second the last post about colour gels....you can get a major choice of colours of ebay. I use either wilton ones or sugarflair. Red and black take more to get a true colour but the sugarflair do a red extra and black extra which uses less
Can you use these gel colours like paint and paint colours onto the surface of a cake ?
If it comes to that, can you use liquid colours as paint ?
I've never painted onto cakes, but I fancy giving it a go !
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2013, 23:34
Specktater
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Scotland
Posts: 7,801
I've painted a cake

I wanted to make my mum a poinsettia topped cake one year for xmas. I coloured the icing with a little red to get a pink, rolled it out then placed a print out on top, used a needle to mark the shape and then cut before painting and leaving to dry. I gave it 2 coats and was really chuffed with the result - really vibrant. It worked great for the veins etc as you can trace them on lightly and get a darker line.

Have always fancied trying to load a thin icing/food colouring mix into a washed out oil spray bottle - think that might have good results too.
Specktater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2013, 23:57
Robbie_Craig
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 588
Food colouring shouldn't taste well except Squid ink obviously, try using powdered colours
also that the effect of vibrant colours on the senses such as eyesight may well effect the perception of taste.
Robbie_Craig is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2013, 12:02
martdcee
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 113
Can you use these gel colours like paint and paint colours onto the surface of a cake ?
If it comes to that, can you use liquid colours as paint ?
I've never painted onto cakes, but I fancy giving it a go !
i do believe you can add a small amount of the gel/paste to a couple of splashes of vodka and mix, it becomes a paint to decorate cakes with...the alcohol in the paint evaporates of or somthing like that lol
martdcee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-01-2013, 13:25
Victoria Sponge
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: UK Garage, GoT, Brasil & steak
Posts: 10,505
It definitely does have a taste but it doesn't become apparent unless you add lots. One time when I made coloured cupcakes I ended up adding loads to make blue ones, and I could taste a kind of 'metallic' taste in the cooked cake. This is with the liquid food colour.

More recently I bought some Americolor concentrated food paste, where, like the Wilton ones other posters have mentioned, needs only the tiniest amount (apply with a cocktail stick) and it was great. I have the 'electric' colours at the moment, and I am looking to purchase a whole load of other colours.
Victoria Sponge is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2013, 17:32
dgi_m
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 210
the colours from the Wilton gels are awesome
http://imgur.com/r66dU
dgi_m is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2013, 20:46
NewExample
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,140
The normal bottled ones taste vile, you can only use a small amount. They smell and taste like hand gel, with white spirit and sugar mixed in.
NewExample is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2013, 22:58
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,707
This is the food colouring I used. The webpage shows the black, but I used red. I don't know how much I used - I just kept adding more until I got the shade I wanted !
http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estor...questid=129118
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 05:14
plymouthbloke1974
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Destination: Hard Brexit
Posts: 6,364
Cochineal tastes vile
plymouthbloke1974 is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 18:29.