How to colour gingerbread: a simple guide

Use this easy to follow guide from Modern Gingerbread to learn how to make beautifully coloured gingerbread for your next cake decorating project! 

The beautiful golden colour of gingerbread is wonderful on its own, but when it's used in combination with different coloured gingerbreads, you can create amazing effects. Certain colours perfectly complement the natural golden hues of gingerbread – red and yellow work particularly well, as do red and green.

This recipe is taken from Modern Gingerbread
ISBN: 9781782216735
Available from Search Press
RRP: £12.99

Modern gingerbread book cover

Colouring gingerbread recipe

You can use edible paste colours to colour gingerbread, these are the same pastes used in cake decoration and sugarcraft. The paste colours are added to the butter, caster sugar and golden syrup as they are being melted together as this disperses the colour well.

You can then add the concentrated paste colour to one batch of pale gingerbread, but it's recommend that you do a little experimentation before you commit any colour to your gingerbread.

Need a pale gingerbread recipe? Look no further! Check out this classic gingerbread recipe which has a handy guide on how adapt it to different shades.

Method


1. Gather, weigh and measure your ingredients.

Ingredients in bowls to colour gingerbread
2. Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spice until the spice is evenly distributed, then sieve into a mixing bowl.

Flour mixture being sieved into a bowl
3. Melt the golden syrup, caster sugar, butter and ½tsp of your chosen food colouring together in a saucepan. Do not allow to boil.

Ingredients being heated in a saucepan
4. Beat the egg lightly. Make a well in the middle of the flour and spice mix and pour in the egg and water.

Flour mixture with a egg in a jar on the side

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5. Pour in the melted coloured syrup, caster sugar and butter mixture.

Heated mixture being poured into the flour mixture
6. Stir with a spatula to combine.

Colouring mixture being mixed with a spatula
7. Knead to form a stiff dough, then transfer the dough into an airtight food storage bag (or wrap in greaseproof paper) and allow to cool and rest at room temperature for 20–30 minutes before use.

Red coloured dough in a bowl

Now you know how to colour gingerbread, try making some gingerbread cookie favours which can make a lovely homemade gift or the perfect place setting for your Christmas table!