Can someone please tell me how to get my chocolate buttercream to a dark brown? Thanks

add brown food coloring

I've already added some brown coloring. Maybe I need to add alot more?

yep. I wanted a darker brown once and thought I'd add black to it .... uh, that turns it black-ish, not brown. So don't try that one.

Try and and add some cocoa powder. If you get the Dutch process cocoa it is very dark brown, the regular cocoa is a bit more brick coloured.

Now it is late already. Next time exchange in your buttercream part of the sugar for dark cocoa - you get brown buttercream and don't need as much food coloring.

Add some dark cocoa powder (100% cocoa, not cocoa drink which has some milk solids and sugar in it) . It turns a nice dark brown and gives a yummy chocolate taste.
You also may need to reduce sugar in your buttercream and add melted dark chocolate to it to balance the taste and texture.

I went through that whole dark brown chocolate thing myself. I kept adding brown food coloring, wanting the dark color with fresh BC dark, not realizing that it turns much darker as it crusts up. Just adding a bag of melted semi-sweets gives me a dark icing without food coloring. But you wouldn't think so by looking at it right away.

When I make chocolate buttercream, I use my regular recipe, then add as much cocoa as I need to get whatever color I want. If you're going for a dark chocolate it may take 1/2 the container of cocoa or more depending on how much frosting you have. You will have to add more milk or water to your frosting to compensate.

I ran into the same problem once and I needed darker brown fast, brown coloring didn't work and a run to the store was not an option. I had some store bought chocolate fudge frosting on hand, I added that to my homemade chocolate buttercream and it worked great. HTH

Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder does it every time!

Thanks eveyone for such quick responses. Since I've already made my frosting do you think it would be okay to add the special dark cocoa to it or will it be too chocolate?

Wait....whats too much chocolate????
Seriously, yes, just add until you get the color you want and as I said you may need more liquid.

No such thing as too much chocolate! I say just go for it! If you use dry cocoa I would sift it together with a little powdered sugar to stop it from clumping, then add it to your BC with a little more liquid until you get the right consistency.

Add some black to your icing slowly until you get the color you want. Brown is basically red and black anyway. Usually there is a red tint already in the icing so you can darken it with the black. Also I have added some green to get certain hues.

Add some black to your icing slowly until you get the color you want. Brown is basically red and black anyway. Usually there is a red tint already in the icing so you can darken it with the black. Also I have added some green to get certain hues.