The present application is directed to a method of hard pan coating an edible core, a sucrose-based, hard panned coating, and a hard panned confection comprising an edible core coated with the same. The sucrose-based, hard panned coating comprises sucrose and a pH-adjusted red radish anthocyanin-containing colorant, is substantially crystalline, and has a red or orange hue described by a CIELCH color space h° coordinate of from about 15° to about 70°. In some embodiments, the coating further comprises a yellow colorant. The colorants are desirably naturally sourced to provide alternatives to synthetic colorants for coloring hard panned confectionery coatings in red or orange hues.
