Hi everyone,

 

I am in the process of starting a cake truffle co. My cake truffles will be made from scratch using all natural, mostly organic ingredients. I have decided not to use food coloring, so I will be limited to chocolate and white chocolate for the coating(no candy melts or almond bark). I am curious to know if there is anyone else out there that does not use food coloring. If so, has that negatively impacted your business? I see so many beautiful cake truffles in many different colors and I am starting to think that this may hinder my business.

 

Just to give some background, my target market will be people that are conscious about the foods they eat( eat organic, non-GMO, etc).

There is a company called India Tree that makes all natural food colourings, I've never used them, but I've heard good things from people who do. Might be a good option for you.

I think you're really limiting yourself by not allowing colors.  Think of all the events where you see cake balls.  Most of them are custom colored for that particular event. 

AAs mentioned above there are natural food colorings available, but they are much more expensive and don't work as well for deeper colors. We've had several customers request natural food coloring, but once we quoted the higher price and explained the limitations they were all fine with using regular food coloring (we use powdered food coloring with no additives).

If I were you I would offer a line of products that's free of food coloring, but still keep food coloring as an option for those who want it.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I checked out India Tree on Amazon and their food coloring had a lot of bad reviews. There is a site called chocolate craft kits and they sell natural food coloring. It's not too expensive. I may them them out.

 

I don't want to box myself into a niche market so small that I can't make any money. I will definitely consider if I should offer a line of cake truffles that are food dye-free.

 

Thanks again everyone!

Jason, if you don't mind me asking what powdered colours do you use? Thanks!

AWe use CK: http://www.ckproducts.com/categories/276/Powder-Color-Cake-n-Candy

Most cake decorating supply stores will carry the small bottles, or you can buy larger sizes from a store that I can't mention here but contains both "sugar" and "craft" in the name.

Okay, excellent! Thanks a million.

will you be offering something besides cake pops/balls (i don't call them truffles because to me that is a treatment of a chocolate product, not a shape) in the organic, all natural market?  From what I have noticed, most of the organic and all natural bakeries tend to focus on the products that their target market wants: artisian look breads and muffins, rustic cakes without a lot of bling, and basically food things in their more organic and natural state.  To me, the cake pop customer is looking for a fanciful treat that honestly doesn't resemble anything in its original form!  (It's an edible ping pong ball on a stick!)  Perhaps a larger metro area is going to have enough of a niche market for the cake pop customer who wants an all organic product at a higher price, but at my first glance 'organic' and 'cake pop' don't strike me as a natural match as a stand-alone product, unless you are providing these cake pops as an add on to organic/all natural dessert tables and displays.  I know this is an unsolicited comment (my apologies), but it kind of speaks to the need for all natural food colors within a market (organic/natural) who may not be asking for it. 

You might call Amoretti, in Oxnard, California who have a line of  Absolute colors which include some oil based colors which  they list as able to be used with chocolate, but I think the only natural ones in that line are orange and yellow.  Their regular line has a few more natural colors-- a pretty nice green, a couple of reds, more yellow and orange, but since they are water soluble, I don't think you will be able to use them with chocolate.  They might work to make decorations which you could use to add to your cake pops.

 

Amoretti is pretty good about sending samples if you are a business.  The colors are expensive, but usually you can buy pretty small amounts of almost anything they carry.   You can check them out at http://www.amoretti.com.  They have been very patient when I've tried to work out product research questions with them, and they do have some flavoring and other lines which are natural so they are worth talking with.  Maybe if enough of us keep asking for natural the market will respond.  I already see a lot more product than was available 10 years ago.

 

I think that it may be a good point that most people who want cake pops don't care if they are natural.   They would rather pay less and have their bright colored candy melts than have plain colored real chocolate pops, which have to cost more not only because the chocolate is more expensive than the melts but because the tempering time and the more delicate handling just makes the labor way more expensive.   I think I've lost a sale or two due to this.  Have you researched whether your potential clients  really are out there?  My experience is that I care more about avoiding artificial  colors than most of my potential clients.  I do use them, but in my mind there are lines I don't want to cross....  If you are going for a small niche like this, You  need to be sure it is really out there.

There is definitely a market for naturally made and decorated cakes. Have you contacted the Feingold Association www.feingold.org? It's support group for those that must avoid things made with artificial ingredients. Where are you located? There are many websites and blogs you could contact. I've seen some absolutely beautiful cakes made with natural ingredients.

 

I'm a member of the Feingold Assoc and know that many go to Whole Foods for their cakes but to have a source such as yours would be great.

 

Note; It would be important that there not be any cross contamination if you do supply both natural and 'unnatural' products.

Regarding your chocolate/white chocolate products, are they free of vanillin and other artificial flavorings?

A

Vanillin is a natural ingredient, it is the primary extract from vanilla beans. If your vanilla extract contains no vanillin there is something very wrong.

Synthetic vanillin is probably what you want to avoid.