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    Home » recipes » dessert

    by Kathy Patalsky · updated: Oct 19, 2023 · published: Mar 1, 2019 · About 3 minutes to read this article. 4 Comments

    Natural Food Coloring

    Easter is one of my favorite food seasons because of all the lovely pastel, spring colors that pop up. And recently, it has become so easy to find Natural Food Colorings for all your Easter recipes. So today, I want to share a few of my faves with you and show you just how gorgeous they are!…

    A good many years ago, I did a post about how to make your own natural food colorings using plants. While that post absolutely still applies, these days it is even easier to use plants to create vivid colors in all your baked goods and even beverages. Ice cream, cake and cupcake frostings and even cake batters. Vegan food colorings are bold and vibrant. And you can find them in stores and online! Many of the “big brands” are even producing all natural versions of their colors because they know the demand is there.

    Just Foods. If you want to try basic foods at home to mimic the store-bought stuff, here are foods to try:

    – turmeric: yellow
    – pitaya: pink
    – beets: red/pink
    – spirulina: green
    – matcha: green
    – blue-green spirulina: blue
    – butterfly tea: blue
    – acai: purple
    – blueberry powder: purple/blue
    – crushed freeze dried berries: red
    – purple cabbage juice: purple/red
    – blackberry juice: deep blue/purple
    – charcoal: black
    – spinach juice: green

    Or snag a box of vegan, plant-based food colorings to make all sorts of colors… Oh hello there gorgeous (plant-based) colored frostings..

    A few products I have tried:

    – 365 brand plant-based food coloring (Whole Foods)
    – Watkins natural food coloring (Amazon)
    – India Tree (Amazon)

    Have not tried:

    – McCormick Colors (Amazon)
    – Color Garden (Amazon)

    Rainbow Sprinkles:

    – Carnival Mix Sprinkles – love these!

    Those active colored ingredients are plants like spirulina, turmeric, beets..

    These cupcakes were my wacky chocolate cake cupcakes.

    And here was my frosting made using these colorings. Note: I didn’t really find much difference between the two brands. They worked pretty much the exact same.

    Rainbow Swirl Cupcakes. I added all the different colors to one frosting bag to create this pretty swirl. I’m not an expert in this technique by any means, and I’m sure you can find a good tutorial online to help you master this process. But it was pretty simple! Just pie the different colors in tall towers in one bag and then swirl! This is a great tutorial by the bewitchin kitchen.

    Here is the basic frosting recipe I used: Vegan Buttercream Frosting

    And once you have the colors, you can make all sorts of fun recipes! Like….

    Easter Cupcakes:



    Flower Cupcakes
    – you could color the marshmallows with the food colorings to create pretty petals!

    These chocolate cupcakes are READY for some pretty frosting on top!

    This Easter Smoothie uses fruit to create pretty colors!

    The red was very bold, and made using plants!!

    The yellow is made using turmeric, nice!

    Need more recipes? Check out this vegan Easter recipe round-up!..

    Pin this for later:

    * disclosure: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links

    More Desserts

    • Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
    • Mini Chocolate Candy Cookies
    • Vegan Linzer Cookies
    • 5 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Pie

    About Kathy Patalsky

    Hey there! I'm Kathy, lover of kitty cats, weekend baking, 90's movies, travel, beach fog and foamy lattes. Since 2007, I have been sharing my vegan recipes and photos. My goal is to make your cooking life a little easier, delicious - and plant-loaded - while sharing some LIFE and conversation along the way.

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    Hi, I'm Kathy! I'm so glad you are here! I've been sharing my vegan life and recipes here on the blog since 2007...

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    Disqus Latest Comments

    1. s

      s: Absolutely one of the best things I've ever baked. Used dairy butter…

      Commented on: Cinnamon Toast Morning Muffins, gluten-free and vegan

    2. JanetS

      JanetS: Neither of those non-grain flours will substitute for oats or wheat. As…

      Commented on: Cinnamon Toast Morning Muffins, gluten-free and vegan

    3. disqus_LfP7ofaP87

      disqus_LfP7ofaP87: Earth Balance brand HAS PALM OIL, as do most of the vegan…

      Commented on: Sticky Banana Bread Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

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