How to Make Caramel
Warm golden-amber brown - the colour of melted sugar, butterscotch, and amber lager.
Recipe: Yellow + Red + White (3:1:1)
Mix yellow and red in a 3:1 ratio - yellow strongly dominant. Add white at one-third the total volume to lift the mix from amber-orange to caramel. Optional final adjustment: a tiny drop of ultramarine to mute the saturation if the mix reads too clearly orange. Earth-pigment shortcut: yellow ochre plus burnt sienna at 2:1 plus a touch of white. The food approach: actual caramel is made by heating sugar; for caramel buttercream colour, a tablespoon of caramel sauce stirred into white frosting is the most authentic shortcut, supplemented by 2 drops of warm-orange gel to reinforce the colour.
What Is Caramel?
Caramel is the warm yellow-dominant brown that sits between tan and chestnut on the colour spectrum. It is named for the food product: sugar heated to between 170 and 180 degrees Celsius until the sucrose breaks down into a golden-amber liquid. In food colouring, caramel is one of the most-asked browns because of its use in caramel buttercream, butterscotch frosting, and the iconic Starbucks Caramel Macchiato visuals. In paint and digital design, caramel is the warmest of the mid-value browns - lighter than chocolate, warmer than coffee, with a yellow-orange dominance that distinguishes it from the redder mahogany or chestnut. Wikipedia lists caramel at #AF6E4D; the decorating-industry value commonly published is #C68642, which is the value the site uses (closer to the lighter caramel-sauce colour rather than the darker burnt-caramel value). The shade also appears in classic interior design schemes as the warmer end of beige and as a popular leather-tone for furniture upholstery and Italian leather goods.
Variations of Caramel
Light Caramel
#D9A567
Caramel + Yellow + White (1:1:1)
Dark Caramel
#A5612F
Caramel base + small Burnt Umber
Butterscotch
#D49B47
Yellow + Red + White (4:1:1.5)
Making Caramel in Different Media
Acrylic Paint
Full guide →Golden Yellow Ochre plus Burnt Sienna plus Titanium White at 2:1:1 is the cleanest acrylic recipe. Liquitex Cadmium Yellow Light Hue plus Quinacridone Crimson plus white is a brighter alternative. Caramel acrylic benefits from medium-body application - thin caramel reads orange, thick caramel reads brown.
Oil Paint
Full guide →Old Holland Yellow Ochre Light plus Indian Red plus Cremnitz White. In oil, caramel develops slowly as the linseed oil yellows over time - a fresh-mixed caramel oil reads slightly lighter than the same mix one year later. Account for this drift in commissioned work.
Watercolour
Full guide →Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold (PO49) alone gives a caramel-adjacent shade at medium dilution and is the closest single-pigment match. For more orange-leaning caramel, Daniel Smith Burnt Sienna at dilute strength plus Quinacridone Burnt Orange.
Food Colouring
Full guide →For caramel buttercream: 4 drops yellow gel + 1 drop red gel per cup of frosting, plus a tablespoon of caramel sauce stirred in. The sauce both flavours and shifts the colour reliably. AmeriColor Egg Yellow plus a drop of Maroon is the closest gel-only approximation. For the deeper salted-caramel shade, increase the red to 2 drops.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- 1Treating caramel as a single shade - butterscotch (lighter, warmer), caramel sauce (mid-amber), and burnt caramel (darker, slightly bitter-looking) are visibly different. Decide which you are targeting.
- 2Adding too much red - shifts caramel toward chestnut or mahogany. Keep red below 25% of the colour mix.
- 3Using cool yellow (lemon yellow) - shifts the mix toward greenish khaki rather than the warm yellow-orange of caramel. Cadmium yellow medium or yellow ochre is correct.
- 4Calling all amber-brown caramel - very warm browns can read as caramel when they are actually closer to ochre or amber. Caramel has a specific golden-warm character at mid-value.
Try It in the Mixer
Tan
RGB(224, 149, 120)
Paint mode uses an approximate RYB subtractive model. Results are a close approximation - actual pigment mixing varies by brand and opacity.
Pre-loaded with the Caramel recipe. Adjust the sliders to fine-tune.
Related Shades
Colour recipes are approximations. Real pigment mixing varies by brand, opacity, and surface. Always test on a sample first.