Cake Ideas 101

Easy Cake Decorating Ideas

cake decorating tips

Cake Ideas – Colored Frosting Tips

Decorating cakes can be done to make them look elegant or simple. One thing that adds to the look is the colors that are used. Sometimes just using white icing to trim out the edges and borders on the cake makes it have that finished look, but does not distract from the main design or decoration. If you do use colored icing, here a few ideas that may help. It is important to remember that the longer the icing sets, the darker the shade it will be. As the air dries it, it will darken somewhat. This little hint needs to be remembered when you run out of a color and need to mix up more. Leave it just a minute shade lighter and it will darken and hopefully match what you had before. One other thing we found out the hard way, that we will mention here since talking about colors changing, is that if you are going to transport cakes in a vehicle for any distance, make sure to cover it up if at all possible. We are not sure if the sun affects all colors, but we do know from experience that purple frosting will turn blue. When transporting our son's wedding cake 75 miles away, the sheet cakes were in the cake boxes with the clear plastic insert in the lid. One of their wedding colors was purple, so we put purple rose buds on the cakes. Where the sun shown in the vehicle, it faded the pretty purple rose buds to a cornflower blue. Where the edges were covered by the cardboard of the box lid, it was fine, but where the plastic was it was no longer their wedding colors. So those cakes got served last!

This sheet cake was one that the flowers changed from lavendar and purple to  shades of blue. And the big one we were really nervous about transporting 75 miles. 🙁 We do keep on hand the basic colors of the Wilton tubes of colored icing. All you have to do is take off the cap and put on a tip and coupler ring designed for that purpose. We have found that if we set the tube in a cup of hot tap water for several minutes that it will make it much easier to squeeze out of the tube. These tubes can be a great time saver if you are needing a small amount of certain  basic colors. Another thing we use occasionally are the cans of food color spray. Both Wilton and Betty Crocker carry these. If you frost the cake with white icing, you can use it like spray paint to change the color of the icing. We generally use it as just a light mist – just enough to give it a little color. This can be a great time saver and it comes in the basic colors of Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Violet, Pink, Black, and Orange. Colors can make the cake. As with painting a room or a house, it says something about the person the cake is for. Have fun with the colors, and people will be impressed with your decorated cakes. 

Be sure to sign up for our FREE eBook “Cake Decorating: How To Go From Beginner To Expert” by subscribing to our FREE Monthly Bulletin at the top of the right side about decorating cakes, and to receive contest notifications, recipes, and cake ideas.

Cake Ideas – Coloring the Icing

In our earlier post of "Cake Ideas – the First Steps," we talked about the frosting. Decorator icing can be mixed up several days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. It will also keep for several weeks in the fridge, as there is nothing in it to spoil. It's best to get it out the night before using it so that it is room temperature. If you have not mixed up your colors before baking the cake, now is the time to do so in order to begin decorating cakes. We personally use the paste food colors that are put out by Wilton. They have many colors available. When we first started decorating cakes, all they had were the basic colors of blue, green, red, and yellow, with maybe a few popularly requested ones. So sometimes it was very hard to get the desired color with just trial and error. Now they carry variations of the basic colors, including: Ivory, Daffodil Yellow, Buttercup Yellow, Golden Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Copper, Creamy Peach, Rose Petal Pink, Terra Cotta, Orange, Red-Red, Christmas Red, Red (no taste), Rose, Burgundy, Pink, Violet, Delphinium Blue, Cornflower Blue, Royal Blue, Sky Blue, Teal, Kelly Green, Leaf Green, Moss Green, Juniper Green, Brown, and Black. Wow – no more trial and error on those colors! We did however, run across a chart that gave some colors and what it takes to make those. We want to share this for others who have struggled to come up with a certain color.

  • Aqua – 5 parts Sky Blue, 1 part Leaf Green
  • Avocado – use Moss Green
  • Chocolate Brown – add a small amount of Golden Yellow to Brown icing
  • Dark Brown – add Brown; with buttercream icings, you get best results when cocoa or melted chocolate pieces are used before adding Brown color.
  • Chartreuse – 9 parts Lemon Yellow, 1 part Leaf Green
  • Flesh – Add just an extermely small touch of Copper to White icing
  • Antique Gold – Add just an extrememly small touch of Leaf Green to Lemon Yellow icing
  • Warm Gold – Add just a touch of Red-Red to Lemon Yellow icing
  • Gray – Add just a touch of Black to White icing
  • Lavendar – 6 parts Pink, 1 part Violet
  • Navy Blue – Mix in a large amount of Royal Blue until a deep blue is achieved, then add a very small amount of Black
  • Peach – Mix equal parts of Lemon Yellow and Pink
  • Raspberry – Mix equal parts of Pink and Red-Red; use enough color to get a rather deep effect
  • Red – Add Pink until a hot pink color is reached; then add Christmas Red or Red-Red until desired shade is achieved
  • Rust – Mix enough Orange until a bright orange is obtained; add Christmas Red until color is dark; then add a very small amount of Royal Blue
  • Salmon – Add an extremely small touch of Orange to Pink icing
  • Silver – It is not advised to simulate silver color in icing; instead, add silver leaves or other silver accessories to the cake
  • Turquoise – 9 1/2 parts Sky Blue, 1/2 part Lemon Yellow

You will obtain the best results when coloring frosting if you use the white or original Crisco for your icing. We like the butter flavored Crisco because of the flavor, but it tints the icing a yellow shade which can in turn alter what you are trying to achieve in your color. So instead, we use a small amount of butter flavoring when we mix up the icing. This way the frosting stays white, but we get the wonderful butter flavor. Remember that color will put the finishing touch to your decorated cakes.

Be sure to sign up for our FREE eBook “Cake Decorating: How To Go From Beginner To Expert” by subscribing to our FREE Monthly Bulletin at the top of the right side about decorating cakes, and to receive contest notifications, recipes, and cake ideas.