diff --git a/packages/format-library/src/text-color/index.js b/packages/format-library/src/text-color/index.js
index a582197503f3c..77824a26d69ba 100644
--- a/packages/format-library/src/text-color/index.js
+++ b/packages/format-library/src/text-color/index.js
@@ -125,5 +125,23 @@ export const textColor = {
 		style: 'style',
 		class: 'class',
 	},
+	/*
+	 * Since this format relies on the <mark> tag, it's important to
+	 * prevent the default yellow background color applied by most
+	 * browsers. The solution is to detect when this format is used with a
+	 * text color but no background color, and in such cases to override
+	 * the default styling with a transparent background.
+	 *
+	 * @see https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/35516
+	 */
+	__unstableFilterAttributeValue( key, value ) {
+		if ( key !== 'style' ) return value;
+		// We should not add a background-color if it's already set
+		if ( value && value.includes( 'background-color' ) ) return value;
+		const addedCSS = [ 'background-color', 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)' ].join( ':' );
+		// Prepend `addedCSS` to avoid a double `;;` as any the existing CSS
+		// rules will already include a `;`.
+		return value ? [ addedCSS, value ].join( ';' ) : addedCSS;
+	},
 	edit: TextColorEdit,
 };
diff --git a/packages/rich-text/src/component/index.js b/packages/rich-text/src/component/index.js
index b5c4f081490e5..d73e89f2e398c 100644
--- a/packages/rich-text/src/component/index.js
+++ b/packages/rich-text/src/component/index.js
@@ -101,6 +101,21 @@ export function useRichText( {
 
 	if ( ! record.current ) {
 		setRecordFromProps();
+		// Sometimes formats are added programmatically and we need to make
+		// sure it's persisted to the block store / markup. If these formats
+		// are not applied, they could cause inconsistencies between the data
+		// in the visual editor and the frontend. Right now, it's only relevant
+		// to the `core/text-color` format, which is applied at runtime in
+		// certain circunstances. See the `__unstableFilterAttributeValue`
+		// function in `packages/format-library/src/text-color/index.js`.
+		// @todo find a less-hacky way of solving this.
+
+		const hasRelevantInitFormat =
+			record.current?.formats[ 0 ]?.[ 0 ]?.type === 'core/text-color';
+
+		if ( hasRelevantInitFormat ) {
+			handleChangesUponInit( record.current );
+		}
 	} else if (
 		selectionStart !== record.current.start ||
 		selectionEnd !== record.current.end
@@ -153,6 +168,31 @@ export function useRichText( {
 		forceRender();
 	}
 
+	function handleChangesUponInit( newRecord ) {
+		record.current = newRecord;
+
+		_value.current = toHTMLString( {
+			value: __unstableBeforeSerialize
+				? {
+						...newRecord,
+						formats: __unstableBeforeSerialize( newRecord ),
+				  }
+				: newRecord,
+			multilineTag,
+			preserveWhiteSpace,
+		} );
+
+		const { formats, text } = newRecord;
+
+		registry.batch( () => {
+			onChange( _value.current, {
+				__unstableFormats: formats,
+				__unstableText: text,
+			} );
+		} );
+		forceRender();
+	}
+
 	function applyFromProps() {
 		setRecordFromProps();
 		applyRecord( record.current );
diff --git a/packages/rich-text/src/create.js b/packages/rich-text/src/create.js
index 39f0a3708c75f..02cdda5d5af58 100644
--- a/packages/rich-text/src/create.js
+++ b/packages/rich-text/src/create.js
@@ -43,14 +43,6 @@ function createEmptyValue() {
 	};
 }
 
-function simpleFindKey( object, value ) {
-	for ( const key in object ) {
-		if ( object[ key ] === value ) {
-			return key;
-		}
-	}
-}
-
 function toFormat( { type, attributes } ) {
 	let formatType;
 
@@ -94,15 +86,33 @@ function toFormat( { type, attributes } ) {
 
 	const registeredAttributes = {};
 	const unregisteredAttributes = {};
+	const _attributes = { ...attributes };
 
-	for ( const name in attributes ) {
-		const key = simpleFindKey( formatType.attributes, name );
+	for ( const key in formatType.attributes ) {
+		const name = formatType.attributes[ key ];
 
-		if ( key ) {
-			registeredAttributes[ key ] = attributes[ name ];
-		} else {
-			unregisteredAttributes[ name ] = attributes[ name ];
+		registeredAttributes[ key ] = _attributes[ name ];
+
+		if ( formatType.__unstableFilterAttributeValue ) {
+			registeredAttributes[
+				key
+			] = formatType.__unstableFilterAttributeValue(
+				key,
+				registeredAttributes[ key ]
+			);
 		}
+
+		// delete the attribute and what's left is considered
+		// to be unregistered.
+		delete _attributes[ name ];
+
+		if ( typeof registeredAttributes[ key ] === 'undefined' ) {
+			delete registeredAttributes[ key ];
+		}
+	}
+
+	for ( const name in _attributes ) {
+		unregisteredAttributes[ name ] = attributes[ name ];
 	}
 
 	return {