Salt and Food Colour for Red Velvet Cupcakes

Asked by UrfaIdris. Answered on 10th March 2015

Full question

If I were to use liquid food colour instead of paste in the Red Velvet Cupcakes, how much would I require? Unfortunately the paste is not available where I live.

Do you need salt in the Red Velvet Cupcakes recipe? I made the cupcakes as per the recipe but am still wondering is salt should be added to the ingredient list? Thank you.

Our answer

Nigella uses red food paste to colour her Red Velvet Cupcakes (from Kitchen and on the Nigella website) as it is much more concentrated than liquid food colouring so less is needed. It is possible to use a liquid food colour but you need to buy a good quality one with a bright red colour.

We would suggest using 2 tablespoons of liquid food colour instead of the 1 tablespoon of paste. This is 30ml or 1 ounce so may in some cases be the equivalent to a full bottle. Unfortunately the strength of the food colouring can vary so you may get a slightly stronger or weaker cake colour than Nigella's. For a brighter red you could add extra food colour but we would mention that red food colour can leave a bitter taste in baked goods if you use large quantities.

Nigella tends not to add salt in her recipes as she prefers cooks to add it according to their own taste and preferences. If you would like to add salt to the cupcakes then we would suggest 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.