Whether it’s for a space themed cake, Halloween, a specific colour theme or just because, black buttercream can look stunning. However as it’s right at the end of the colour spectrum, it can be a tricky colour to achieve without using a TON of food colouring which leaves a bit of a funny taste but using enough colour so you don’t end up with grey!
This is the best way I’ve found to get black buttercream while still having it super tasty and firm enough to decorate with.
If you’re interested in how to make white buttercream, check out my blog here.
Cut your butter into cubes and pop it in your mixer bowl. Then beat it on a high speed for about 4-5 minutes. This will aerate the butter and create a neutral colour.
Next, add in your icing sugar and make your buttercream as usual. I use 250g butter to 500g icing sugar. Try not to add liquid as it will make it too soft, instead just keep mixing until you get a nice consistency. You want a firmer buttercream for piping onto cupcakes so they hold their shape and a softer buttercream for filling and covering cakes so it doesn’t rip the cake apart. If it’s too hard, put the mix in the microwave in 10 second bursts until you get the consistency needed for your bake.
Then, we’re going to turn it into a chocolate buttercream as it’s a lot easier to get from brown to black than yellow to black!
To your buttercream, add in 100g melted and cooled dark chocolate and 50g cocoa powder.
Once you have a nice chocolate buttercream, then it’s time to add the colour. With black, (as well as red and navy) I’ve only found one colour to get a true black, and that’s this stuff! Sugarflair Black Extra. Add a small amount and then keep adding until you have achieved your desired colour.
*TIP* – The colour will darken over time so I suggest adding a small amount, mixing it in, covering the bowl with cling film and popping in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. Once you take it out of the fridge, pop it in the microwave in 10 second bursts and mix well until it is a good consistency to spread.
You can see the awesome black cake I made using this buttercream here!
Give it a try and let me know how you get on either on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Happy Baking!
Britt xo
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