Tinting buttercream so that it becomes a ‘true’ black colour can be a little difficult but here are a few tricks to make it not only achievable, but also easy:

1. Use a gel colour. Gel colours are more concentrated than liquid colours and therefore you don’t need to use as much to achieve the same intensity of colour – too much added liquid (in the form of food colouring) can make your buttercream curdled in appearance and sloppy in consistency, making it hard to pipe and spread.
2. I have found that American buttercream (the type based on beating butter and icing sugar) takes on a black colour more quickly than a meringue-based buttercream (like a Swiss meringue buttercream) and therefore you don’t have to use as much gel colour to achieve the same colour intensity. So American buttercream, like the one in this recipe, is my pick when wanting a black buttercream.
3. Start with a chocolate buttercream. This will give you a head start with the tinting and will mean you won’t need to use as much gel colour.
4. Tint the buttercream the day before you want to use it. When first tinted your buttercream will likely have a murky dark grey colour but will deepen and intensify on standing.