Can I have green cake/frosting without food coloring?

[equinurse]

My dd wants green cake for her birthday, she is obsessed with green right now. I would love to make her a green cake or cupcakes,but dont know how to do it without food color(which I would NEVER use) Frosting ideas?

Any basic vanilla cake recipes out there that are healthy but mainstream tasting? I would love one.

Thanks!
Margie

[ComaWhite]

I would guess that using some wheatgrass juice (found in the freezer section of most healthfood stores in 1 oz containers) would work well at a nice green color. Wheatgrass juice is also very sweet to taste and wouldnt ruin the taste of the icing... I have never tried this though! so, I hope you get some more ideas comming

[bobica]

dancing deer has food coloring that is natural- i saw it at whole foods. try www.dancingdeer.com

i know there are a few sites for allergy related cooking. i lost my links so i can't think of any off the top of my head!

for vanilla cake- i haven't done one from scratch but the box mix from Dr. Oetker (also at WF) is very yummy!

[LadyMarmalade]

I've done this for frosting. Mix a bit of butter into confectioners sugar, then add some dried wheat or barley grass. Mix it well and add a few drops of milk.

Let me see if I can find some measurements.

[LadyMarmalade]

Okay ... cream together 1 tablespoon of butter and half a cup of confectioners sugar (I usually mash it with a fork, but it's much lighter if you cream it with beaters), then add the wheat or barley grass (depending how deep you want the colour). Add 1/2 teaspoon of milk (you can use cream if you want), whip it, then add a little more milk (depending on the consistency you want).

[LadyMarmalade]

PS you'd probably be able to use spiriluna too.

[Jasmyn's Mum]

I've used liquid chlorophyll

[amyjeans]

I just watched Alton Brown make avacado frosting- green as can be! It sounds soooo yummy!
sweet and savory all together!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._32238,00.html

[pumpkin]

I was just about to suggest the Alton Brown avocado method but someone beat me to it. It looked super yummy. I'm just waiting for an excuse to make green frosting.

[Ruthla]

I've used the water from cooking spinach to make "leaves" for the icing "flowers." It does have a "spinachy" taste to it, so I wouldn't recomend doing a whole cake with spinach frosting, but if you just need a little bit as an accent color, it works fine. I didn't have any wheat or barley grass powder or juice, or liquid chlorophyll in the house.

[veganf]

I find the taste of wheatgrass overwhelming. Maybe juicing some raw spinach would work. I know I've done pink frosting by juicing just a few cranberries.

- Krista

[root*children]

A second for spirulina

[messy mama]

I don't know if this would work, but it sure would taste good. Could you somehow extract the juice from fresh spearmint or peppermint leaves and use that as a coloring for frosting?

[ChristieB]

Green is my favorite color, too! The Dancing Dear colors are very pale (esp. the green). I was very disappointed in them when I used them (that was a couple yrs. ago, so maybe they've changed them??). I've used the wheatgrass, though, and no one knew! I didn't find it overwhelming at all. It makes a very pretty green, too (though you don't want to use as much as it would take to make a really deep green). I used it in a cream cheese frosting. If you use too much, though, the frosting starts to break. I juiced my own, but if you could find the powdered stuff, that would be more convenient, I'm sure. Plus, the poder wouldn't cause the frosting to break. You might want to make a trial run, so you can experiment! Let us know how it works.

I've used chlorophyl, too, but it tasted too grassy. I don't recommend it.

Christie

[equinurse]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I used the wheatgrass powder to color the cupcakes-perfect! I could taste the wheatgrass, but it wasnt too strong and my 3yo.dd loved it. I also used the avocado frosting too-great! I think I put too much sugar in it because it is a bit stiff but hopefully it will frost the cake ok. I used strawberry and blueberry juice to color cupcakes too. I think the other moms will wonder what the heck is up with the cupcakes, but oh well. I am NOT a baker and the cupcakes came out ok but too small for the cupcake holder thingies. I fiqured that the kids are all 3-5 and could care less what they looked like.

Thanks again,
Margie