Types of Food Colouring

What’s the Difference? Gel Colour vs. Liquid vs. Powder (and Oil-Based Too!)

When it comes to colouring your bakes, not all food colourings are created equal. Gel, liquid, and powder colourings each have their own strengths—and choosing the right one can make a big difference to your final result. Whether you're a beginner baker or a cake artist in full swing, understanding when to use each type is a total game-changer.

Let’s break it down...

Liquid Food Colouring: The Basics

Best for: Light pastel shades, drinks, basic icings
Not ideal for: Bold colours, fondant, or chocolate

Liquid food colour is the one most people recognise—it’s often sold in small bottles and found in supermarkets. It's water-based and quite diluted, so it’s great for beginners or when you want a soft tint in buttercream, royal icing, or sponge mix.

However, because it’s so thin, it can water down your mix if you use too much—especially risky in fondant or meringues where texture is everything.

Try it when you're tinting a simple icing or making rainbow cupcakes for the kids!

Gel Food Colouring: The Baker’s Best Friend

Best for: Buttercream, fondant, meringue, cake batter
Not ideal for: Oil-based mediums like chocolate

Gel colour is thicker, more concentrated, and often comes in a squeezy tube or pot. It packs a punch in just a small amount, meaning no compromise on texture or consistency. This makes it perfect for deep, vibrant colours and intricate cake decorating.

You’ll find it much easier to blend and layer with gel colours—plus, they won’t make your buttercream runny (yes, please).

✅ Perfect for: ombré cakes, sculpted cakes, bright rainbow sponges, and more.

Oil-Based Food Colouring: Made for Fat-Rich Mixes

Best for: Chocolate, Swiss meringue buttercream, ganache, cocoa butter-based mediums
Not ideal for: Water-based applications like royal icing or meringues

Here’s where Colour Mill and similar oil-based colours shine. Unlike gel or liquid colours, which can seize up chocolate or split oily mixtures, oil-based colours blend seamlessly into anything with a high fat content.

They’re specially formulated to disperse through fat rather than water, making them perfect for colouring white chocolate, buttercream (especially Swiss or Italian meringue), ganache, and candy melts.

Bonus: They often come in beautiful, on-trend shades that are easy to blend for custom tones.

Pro tip: A little goes a long way, so start small and build up your colour gradually.

Check out our full Colour Mill range here – they're a customer favourite for good reason!

Powder Colouring: The Secret Weapon

Best for: Chocolate, sugar flowers, dry brushing, high-intensity colour
Not ideal for: Casual baking or when you need precise wet blending

Powder colours are super concentrated pigments in dry form. They're incredibly versatile—you can dust them dry over decorations (like shimmer on sugar flowers), mix them with alcohol or rejuvenator spirit to paint on fondant, or even blend into chocolate for bold cocoa-based colouring.

One of the biggest pros? No added liquid—so they're perfect for techniques where moisture is the enemy.

✨ Want to add metallic highlights or colour match macarons without risking the texture? Powder's your best bet.

Final Thoughts

Each colour type has its own moment to shine, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Having a few of each in your baking kit means you’re ready for anything—whether it’s a bold rainbow cake or a delicate painted topper.

So, what’s in your toolkit?
Try branching out and experimenting—your next cake creation might just need a new type of colour to bring it to life.

Explore our full food colouring range here and get inspired!