White cake that I can "dye" with berries.

I would like to make a cake for tomorrow that had red, white and blue layers inside, but I hate food coloring. Can I add a berry purée to the red and blue layers? Will a vanilla bean buttercream work with this? I can't seem to find exactly what I am looking for anywhere!

Gina55164
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10 Comments

Rebecca V. July 4, 2013
just came across this browsing google images for something else, had to share! ;) http://secretlifeofachefswife.com/anthologie/desserts/the-coolest-fourth-of-july-cake-ive-ever-seen
 
sdebrango July 3, 2013
I saw this cake today on a blog I follow, the layers are not completely colored but it looks beautiful. http://www.creative-culinary.com/july-4th-red-white-and-blue-patriotic-cake/#more-19868
 
Bevi July 3, 2013
That is a gorgeous cake, Suzanne.
 
Gina55164 July 3, 2013
Thanks for all these suggestions!
 
Rebecca V. July 3, 2013
i bought a natural food coloring set by india tree once, but i don't know that i ever baked with it... i think it was from dean & deluca, but i imagine something like that is now sold more widely than it used to be. perhaps you could consider making a raspberry (or pomegranate or strawberry) compote and adding in whole blueberries? that combination would look great against the backdrop of a pristine white cake with a delicious butter cream frosting. plus then you wouldn't have to fret about how the inside of the cake was going to turn out (which you wouldn't know until you cut it open, probably!). hope it works out!
 
Gina55164 July 5, 2013
I ended up just adding whole raspberries for the red layer and whole blueberries for the blue layer. Great idea; it was a hit!
 
Rebecca V. July 5, 2013
sounds great!! hope it was a good 4th
 
Monita July 3, 2013
Check out this link which describes how to make natural food coloring and how to add it to your cake
http://www.inhabitots.com/diy-organic-rainbow-cake-without-toxic-chemical-food-colors/
 
HalfPint July 3, 2013
Yes, but...
in my experience and observations, berries added to white cake come out either grey-ish purple or puce in color. They aren't the same vibrant happy colors prior to baking. In fact, they can look downright frightening. The natural colors aren't heat-stable. You might have better results with beets.
 
andrea L. July 3, 2013
What about red beets for dying the white cake? Or raspberry compote with the seeds strained out?

I've always wanted to make this:
http://food52.com/blog/4574-nigel-slater-s-extremely-moist-chocolate-beet-cake
Perhaps you could leave out the dark chocolate or put white chocolate instead?
http://www.marthastewart.com/355507/vanilla-bean-buttercream
 
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