Frosting Color Guide

Our Frosting Color Guide is chock full of all the food coloring formulas you will need to make delicious, bright and beautiful frosting in all the colors of the rainbow.

We make a lot of cupcakes. We make a lot of frosting.  We like frosting in bright and pretty colors.  Over the year there has been a lot of trial and error is getting just the right colors in the deepest shades using the least amount of food coloring.  We finally feel like we have figured out the exact food coloring formula for so many pretty colored frostings and we wanted to share them.   Our Frosting Color Guide is for us and for you and we hope you find it as useful as we do.

How to Make White Frosting

When we need White Buttercream we make a batch of our The Best Buttercream Frosting.  It’s white-adjacent.  If you really need a pure white, you can use the same yummy buttercream frosting recipe with Clear Vanilla Extract instead of regular Vanilla.

How to Make Black Frosting

(Based on a single batch of our The Best Buttercream Frosting)

Wilton Color Right Food Coloring
Black – 10 drops

How to Make Light Pink Frosting

Light Pink Frosting is very easy to make … you’ll just need the tiniest drop of pink food coloring.

NOTE: If you don’t have pink food coloring, red will work but use VERY little of it. It would be best to stick a toothpick into the red food coloring and then swipe the toothpick through the white frosting. That is how little of the red food coloring you will need.

1. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
2. Add 1 very small drop of Pink food coloring to the frosting and mix.

Again, frosting always darkens over time.  In the picture above, you can see how the pink frosting color deepened slightly over night.

How to Make Bright Pink Frosting

You need a little creativity to get a deep dark Pink frosting color … plain pink food coloring isn’t going to get you there.  Not to worry, we have a tried and true formula that always gets the job done.

1. You will need your pink and red bottles of  Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 6 drops of Pink food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).
4. Now add 6 drops of Red Food coloring. Mix by hand.

Again, frosting always darkens over time.  In the picture above, you can see how the dark pink color deepened overnight.

How to Make Red Frosting

It took a lot of trial and error for us to figure out how to turn buttercream frosting into a pretty shade of bright red. Most of the red food coloring we tried over the years resulted in a red that was too pink.  We’ve never had that problem with Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.  You get bright and deep colors without having to use a whole bottle of food coloring.

1. Grab your bottles of Crimson and Red Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 14 drops of Red food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).
4. Add 6 drops of Crimson food coloring and stir by hand.

That is all there is to make a bright red frosting that is perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or the 4th of July. And remember, frosting always darkens a shade or two over time.  In the picture above, you can see how the red color deepened overnight.

How to Make Burgundy Frosting

(Based on a single batch of our The Best Buttercream Frosting)

Wilton Color Right Food Coloring
Crimson – 8 drops
Red – 1 drop
Brown – 1 drop
Orange – 1/2 drop

How to Make Orange Frosting

(Based on a single batch of our The Best Buttercream Frosting)

Wilton Color Right Food Coloring
Orange – 4 drops
Yellow – 4 drops

How to Make Gold Frosting

(Based on a single batch of our The Best Buttercream Frosting)

Wilton Color Right Food Coloring
Yellow – 6 Drops
Orange – 1 Drop

How to Make Yellow Frosting

A pretty light yellow is not so hard to achieve either, just a little bit of Yellow food coloring mixed with creamy Buttercream Frosting.

1. You will need your Yellow bottle of  Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 2 drops of Yellow food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).

How to Make Purple Frosting

Purple is made by combining Blue and Pink – whether you get lavender or dark purple is the tricky part. There are so many different shades, so many combinations of Blue and Pink to try to get the perfect one. We’ve tried many different food colorings and color combinations but we think we’ve got the perfect mix for a bright purple frosting.

1. You will need your pink and blue bottles of  Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 12 drops of Pink food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).
4. Add 2 drops of Blue food coloring and stir by hand. The blue food coloring is going to take you from pink to purple.

Again, frosting always darkens over time.  In the picture above, you can see how the purple color deepened overnight.

How to Make Blue Frosting

It is challenging to create a dark blue frosting … the yellow-ish hue from buttercream frosting when mixed with blue food coloring will inevitably give you a teal frosting.  We’ve tried many different food colorings and color combinations but we think we’ve got the perfect mix for a patriotic blue frosting.

1. You will need your blue and red bottles of  Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 12 drops of Blue food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).
4. Add 3-4 drops of Red food coloring and stir by hand. The red food coloring is going take you from teal to a darker navy-ish blue.  Start with 3 drops and see how it looks before you add more red.

Again, frosting always darkens over time. In the picture above, you can see how the blue color deepened overnight.

How to Make Light Blue Frosting

Just a dab of Blue food coloring will get you a soft Easter Blue frosting.

1. You will need your blue bottle of  Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 2 drops of Blue food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).

Again, frosting always darkens over time.  In the pictures above, you can see how the blue color deepened overnight.

How to Make Sage Green Frosting

(Based on a single batch of our The Best Buttercream Frosting)

Wilton Color Right Food Coloring
Yellow- 6 Drops
Blue – 2 Drops
Brown – 1/2 Drop

How to Make Green Frosting

A Green frosting is not as hard to achieve as other colors … the slightly yellow-ish tint from the buttercream frosting is a good base to build on.

1. You will need your yellow and blue bottles of  Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 12 drops of Yellow food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).
4. Now add 4-5 drops of Blue Food coloring. Mix by hand.

Again, frosting always darkens over time.  In the picture above, you can see how the green color deepened overnight.

How to make Bright Green Frosting

There are a lot of Greens in the world … for St. Patrick’s Day or Christmas Grinch Green you want a bright yellow-y green. We have just the perfect blend of Yellow and Blue food coloring to get you there.

1. You will need your yellow and blue bottles of  Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.
2. Make a batch of our Best Buttercream Frosting. (A single batch will give you approximately 2 1/2 cups of frosting.)
3. Add 8 drops of Yellow food coloring and mix the food coloring with a spoon (as opposed to using the mixer).
4. Now add 1-2 drops of Blue Food coloring. Mix by hand.

Again, frosting always darkens over time.  In the picture above, you can see how the green color deepened overnight.

You can make frosting any color of the rainbow … let this Frosting Color Guide and your imagination be your guide.