Colour of Red Velvet Cupcakes

Asked by Shell-Belle. Answered on 6th April 2015

Full question

I have just made the Red velvet Cupcakes, the recipe and method are really easy to follow and they taste good, although they are more brown than red. I used a whole 38ml bottle of red colouring. So maybe next time I'll use less cocoa powder. As I twist I've put chocolate filling inside. Any tips to get the sponge more red than brown?

Our answer

Nigella makes her Red Velvet Cupcakes (from Kitchen and on the Nigella website) with food colouring paste rather than with liquid food colouring as the pastes tend to be stronger and will give a more vibrant colour for the quantity used. However the cake batter does include cocoa powder and in the recipe Nigella notes that the cupcakes change hue as they bake, becoming "more maroon acrylic than red velevet".

You could get a brighter red colour by reducing the cocoa powder and replacing it with extra flour. However we would mention that some food colours can leave a bitter taste if used in quantity and you may notice this in the cupcakes. In this case try to use one of the "no taste" red colouring pates.