Step 5: Decorating with Cake Colors
Shells, stars, rosettes, flowers - any icing decoration takes an added beauty when it's in color. Therefore the colors you choose to decorate a cake are as important as the decorations themselves.
If the colors are too dark or too pale, the characteristics of the icing can be lost. As a general rule, lighter colors are best for backgrounds with deeper brighter colors for individual decorations.
Paste colors are best for deeper colors because they will not thin your icing.
Mixing Colors
The most important rule in mixing any icing color is to add the paste food color a little at a time until you achieve the desired shade. Remember, if the icing is too light, you can always add more color.
When you mix any color, make sure you have enough for the area you wish to decorate. For example, if you're going to have pink flowers and a pink border, mix enough icing for both. It's not easy to duplicate an exact shade of any color.
Use the chart at right for mixing your colors.
Color Striping
Color Striping is a simple to do decorating technique that adds a deep contrasting color trim to any icing decoration including flowers, leaves and borders like the row of shells below.
To produce a color striped effect, use an art brush to stripe the inside of a decorating bag with any paste food color. If you wish, you can brush on several color stripes for a multicolor effect like the shell border.
Now fill your decorating bag with icing as usual and as you squeeze out designs like the shell border, watch the pretty colored edges appear like magic!
Continue to: Step 6: How to Make Drop Flowers
Cake Decorating Tutorials
- Cake Decorating Books
- Step 1: Decorating Tools You Need
- Step 2: Basic Tube Design Types
- Step 3: Using Your Decorator bag
- Step 4: Practicing your Decorating
- Step 5: Color Makes the Cake
- Step 6: How to Make Drop Flowers
- Step 7: How to Make Leaves
- Rolled Fondant and Buttercream Frosting
- Make you First Wedding Cake
- Easy Homemade Cake Recipes
- Birthday Cake Decorating Ideas
- White Icings and Frostings
- Chocolate Icings and Frostings
- Cheese cakes, Fruit Cakes, Christmas Cakes
