Coloring Chocolate

Have you ever needed chocolate to come in a color other than brown or white? Colored chocolate is great for adding some fabulosity to dipped strawberries, macaron fillings, and cake truffles! I know of a couple methods for coloring chocolate.


First, you could use colored chocolate bark or Wilton candy melts. Candy melts come in a variety of vibrant colors. To use this method, simply melt the chocolate and it will be ready for dipping or drizzling onto desserts!

Second, and my personal favorite, you can color chocolate yourself using powder! Since melted chocolate does NOT mix with water, you can NOT use basic food coloring or gel paste to color white chocolate. But you can use powder color.

Powder color is especially awesome because it can be used in all the same applications as food coloring or gel paste, AND it can be used to color white chocolate or white candy melts to the specific shade of any color that you want. So, if you were having a party with blue as the main color scheme, you could have cake balls or dipped strawberries in as many different shades of blue that you want to mix up, instead of the one shade available with traditional candy melts.

To use colored powder, melt white chocolate or white candy melts in the microwave or using a double boiler. Then, add 1/2 teaspoon (more or less) to the melted chocolate and stir. The richness of the color will depend on how much powder is added to the chocolate. For a pastel shade, add less powder. For a vibrant shade, add more. If in doubt, start with a little sprinkling of powder and add more if desired!

Have fun in the kitchen fellow chocolateers!

This post was originally published in 2010 on my Flour Girl blog.