How To

• You need grape juice concentrate to color your frosting. This has a deep purple hue that gives frosting a pastel purple color. Thaw frozen purple grape juice concentrate. Add a small amount of the concentrate to a bowl of prepared icing and mix thoroughly. About a ¼ teaspoon of grape juice concentrate for every 2 tablespoon of frosting is a good start. Just don’t add too much concentrate, or you’ll thin out the consistency of your frosting.

Flavor

• You won’t taste the grape if you use a small amount, but you might notice a sweeter taste to your frosting. Pair your naturally dyed frosting with a dense, not-so-sweet cupcake recipe to offset it.

Alternatives

• If you’re out of grape juice, there are alternatives for dying your frosting purple. These all still provide a pastel purple color. Reduce frozen blueberries and dye frosting with them. Do so by reducing the blueberries until you get a thick, purple syrup. Cool the syrup, then add in small amounts to your frosting. Your frosting takes on a blueberry flavor using this method. Purple drink mix powders also work as natural dyes for frosting. But, drink mix powders contain sugar, so your buttercream , but they will add sugar and flavor to your buttercream.

More Colors

• Create a rainbow of naturally colored frostings by using ingredients you already have in your home. Beet powder and juice create pink and red. Avocado and pureed spinach can turn your frosting green. Carrot juice concentrate turns frosting orange. Blueberries can create blue when used in small amounts. Lemon peels, cumin and orange peels create yellow food coloring. Cocoa powder, coffee and espresso makes brown.