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Home » Recipes » Sweet Recipes » Icing/Frosting » How To Color Swiss Buttercream

How To Color Swiss Buttercream

Published February 3, 2019 | Updated May 09, 2019 by Hani 14 Comments

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I’m sharing How to Color Swiss Buttercream with gel food colors.

cake decorated with rainbow buttercream ruffles on a cake stand

JUMP TO RECIPE AND TOOLS

Swiss Buttercream is known for being notoriously difficult to color. Especially if you want to achieve beautiful bright and rich tones.

Have you ever tried to color Swiss Buttercream with gel food colors? If you have then you’d probably ran into the same problem I had encountered over 7 years ago.

colored swiss buttercream in piping bags

I remember I was trying to color Swiss Meringue Buttercream with leaf green coloring and though I was getting green it wasn’t bright green. It was muted and no matter how much gel color I added it only became worse.

Buttercream was turning into a dull dark green mess with tiny little dark beads. I didn’t understand why it was happening.

Then, just by a chance I found out that heat can remedy this issue. How do I mean? It’s quite simple really.

SWISS BUTTERCREAM CAKES

Before I jump into a tutorial here are few Swiss Buttercream Cakes I made in the past. I employed the heat coloring method to create rainbow, bright purple, pastel and even black buttercream.

  • Rainbow Scratch Art Flower Cake
  • Pumpkin Wreath Cake
  • Mason Jar Cake
  • Willy Wonka Giant Cupcake Cake
  • Monarch Butterfly

COLOR SWISS BUTTERCREAM WITH GEL FOOD COLORS

  • Start with a room temperature Swiss Buttercream.
  • Take about 1/4 cup of buttercream and add gel food coloring.
  • Mix well, notice how color is dull and not bright.
swiss butterceam in a bowl
americolor green leaf food color in a large bottle
green swiss buttercream
  • Microwave 1/4 cup of dull green buttercream on high for 5-8 seconds. Buttercream will be melted, don’t panic.
  • Quickly and thoroughly mix it. You’ll notice color will be deeper and brighter. Pour microwaved portion into the uncolored buttercream and mix it well.
  • If needed repeat this step. Until desired color is achieved.
warm buttercream
green colored swiss buttercream
  • Purple buttercream can be tricky to make with ready to use purple food coloring.
  • I use Electric Pink and Sky Blue Americolor Gels to make purple icing.
  • Once you achieve the color you need let the buttercream rest for a little bit. This helps to develop the color further.
  • If buttercream appears too soft refrigerate for 30 minutes.
purple swiss buttercream
purple swiss buttercream in a bowl

TO COLOR SWISS BUTTERCREAM YOU NEED

  • RECIPE
  • Swiss Buttercream
  • TOOLS
  • Americolor Gel Food Colors
  • Chefmaster Starter Kit Colors
  • Spatulas
  • Bowls

Mason Jar Cake

monarch butterfly cake on a cake stand

Butterfly Cake [Template]

how to make rainbow scratch art cake

Rainbow Flower Scratch Art Cake

Buttercream decorated cake with buttercream wreath decorations displayed on a cake stand.

Buttercream Fall Wreath Cake

Rice Krispie Ice Cream Cone Cake

Buttercream Mums Burlap Wreath Cake

Rainbow Buttercream Ruffle Cake

Easter Bunny Cake

Frozen Anna Cake

Easter Maze Cake with Simple Buttercream Flowers

This post contains amazon affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no cost to you. I only recommend products that I use and love. Learn more about my affiliate policy here.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Decorated Cakes, Haniela's, Icing/Frosting, Recipes, Sweet Recipes, Videos Tagged With: buttercream

HI, NICE TO MEET YOU!

I'm Hani. Here you'll find variety of delicious recipes, step by step cookie and cake decorating tutorials. Read More…

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Comments

  1. Amanda says

    January 16, 2021 at 2:03 am

    Hi, I added the gel food coloring to the room temperature buttercream and mixed, not knowing it would ruin the buttercream and form the beads. Do you have any advice on what I should do to fix this? It’s my first time making this.

    Reply
    • Hani says

      January 20, 2021 at 3:44 pm

      Hi Amanda,
      I’d suggest using the coloring method I used here. Take little bit of “ruined” buttercream and heat it up in the microwave and then stir well, see what happens, then add it to the remaining buttercream. Etc.

      Reply
  2. JACQUELINE B says

    July 24, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    Do you think it would work the same if you added the color in the egg white and sugar heating step? Just curious.

    Reply
    • Hani says

      July 30, 2020 at 5:36 am

      Hi Jacqueline,
      that’s a great question and a great idea. I haven’t personally tried it. I wonder if adding color to meringue while it’s still warm would work and then adding butter after. I haven’t
      tried it myself though.

      Reply
  3. Ruby says

    June 14, 2020 at 12:50 am

    How about if no microwave? Any idea? Thanks

    Reply
    • Hani says

      June 14, 2020 at 10:40 am

      If you don’t have a microwave you could heat an oven safe dish, for example a ramekin in the oven. When it’s warm add a small amount of heavily colored buttercream and whisk it. Residual heat of ramekin will help with the color transformation. It will also become liquid just like it would in the microwave. Add it to the uncolored buttercream and whisk well. Repeat if necessary. Hope it helps.

      Reply
  4. Sinead says

    February 28, 2020 at 3:51 pm

    Game-changing advice, thank you! Murky grey to vibrant turquoise in 10 seconds!

    Reply
    • Hani says

      February 29, 2020 at 11:22 pm

      Hi Sinead,
      so glad it was helpful.Thank you.

      Reply
  5. Michelle says

    September 6, 2019 at 8:48 am

    Thank you for advise. Could you kindly advise how I can achieve a royal blue.

    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Hani says

      September 10, 2019 at 3:01 pm

      Hi Michelle,
      I’d just use royal blue gel food coloring. Or if you are worried that you might end up using too much of it you an also use oil based food colors.

      Reply
  6. Jenifer says

    August 26, 2019 at 1:01 pm

    This is life changing! Thank you.

    Reply
    • Hani says

      August 26, 2019 at 1:11 pm

      Thank you, glad it’s helpful Jenifer.

      Reply
  7. Gia says

    August 19, 2019 at 7:24 pm

    I just want to say the BIGGEST THANK YOU for this tip. It is life changing as a baker! I love SMBC but have never been able to get past the beading of gel colouring! I’ve tried so many different brands thinking it’s the brands fault, but this changes everything! I can finally get vibrant colours with SMBC. Thank you so so much! Really appreciate this tip! 🙂

    Reply
    • Hani says

      August 20, 2019 at 7:23 am

      Hi Gia,
      I’m glad it was helpful. Hani

      Reply

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