Icing The Cake

As a first step in our study of cake decorating, we will examine the methods and materials of icing a cake. The icing or frosting serves as the setting for the decorations and is actually the initial step in the cake decorating process.

Frosting helps keep the cake moist. It is important to have your cake cold and free from crumbs before it is frosted. When frosting layer cakes, lay four strips of waxed paper on a plate or doilie as illustrated. Invert one layer, spread filling evenly over this, then place the second layer on top  and frost. If you are using a thin icing, you may start by pouring the icing on the top and then work to the sides. In using a heavier icing such as a marshmallow or butter-cream, we prefer to start on the sides first and then go to the top of the cake as illustrated. The spatula may be dipped in hot water if a very smooth effect is desired. Here are a few effects that may be obtained by following the simple cake decorating instructions.

SPIRAL EFFECT

The spatula is held at the center of the cake. Turn the cake slowly with the left hand and move the spatula gradually to the outer edge of the cake.

FLUFFY STUCCO EFFECT

A boiled or marshmallow icing should be used. After the cake is iced the spatula is placed on the cake and then pulled away to make a series of peaks

ZIG-ZAG PATTERN

Cut saw-like teeth along the edge of a cardboard approximately the same width as the cake. Take the cardboard in both hands, as illustrated, and start at the edge of the cake moving the cardboard along the cake top using a series of side to side motions.

The stencil cake is first iced with a hard drying icing. The desired cake decorating pattern is cut out of cardboard and placed on the cake top. The pattern is then iced over in a contrasting color using a spatula knife. The Spider Web effect was obtained as follows. First ice the cake in any desired color. Then with three ounces of melted bitter chocolate in a small cone with a No. 3 tube, start a series of circles working from the outer edge of the cake. Draw a knife lightly over the cake as illustrated giving the desired effect. Chocolate Drip Effect cake is iced in a hard drying icing and chocolate is poured over the cake as illustrated.

DECORATING ICINGS

Realizing the housewife has many favorite frostings for her cakes we will concentrate on decorating icings.

No matter how you practice cake decorating and how much equipment you have, your icing must be at the right consistency or all your decorating efforts will be in vain.

When working with a decorating icing, it is often necessary to vary the consistency of your particular icing. If you are practicing a simple border, your icing should be of a medium consistency. For many of the different types of flowers, a stiffer icing is required in order to make the petal stand up and have a more lifelike effect. All of our cake decorating formulas are worked out to give you a medium stiff consistency and they may be used for either flowers or borders. Where you are told to thin down the icing slightly, do so by adding a few drops of water. Now the question arises, where would a thinned down icing be used? In string work and tube writing the icing must be of a thinner consistency in order to draw out properly. If a heavy, stifficing is used, as pressure is applied to the cone the icing will tend to break as it is moved along the surface of the cake. By using a thinner icing it will tend to string out and much better results will be obtained. It is very important that you follow our icing recipes in detail, for without the proper icing or the proper consistency all of your practice and our cake decorating instructions will be in vain.

There are three main types of decorating icing. The buttercream, the boiled and royal icing.

All of the following icings were tested on a standard home electric mixer. Heavy duty mixers will require 3 to 4 minutes less beating time per each step. It is important to remember all utensils must be completely free of grease.

Keep in mind that these icings are for cake decorating and must be stiff. If you are using the proper ingredients there are only two things that would make your icing fail:

1. Not beating long enough
2. A tiny amount of grease in your batch.

ROYAL ICING WITH MERINGUE POWDER

Royal Icing is the choice of professional bakers for all phases of cake decorating. It can be easily made from the preparation, Wilton Deluxe Meringue. Royal Icing is used for decorating only, never for the frosting or icing of cakes. It is preferred chiefly because of its stiff, firm consistency—excellent for forming clear, sharp outlines and crisper flowers. Flowers and decorations of Royal Icing can be made, dried and kept without refrigeration for months. There is no waste, ever . . . add coloring to only what you need and store the balance in a sealed container and refrigerate. When needed, just whip with a beater to restore original consistency. Royal Icing is greaseless and dissolves quickly, thereby eliminating much of the mess of cleaning-up.
1/4 cup water
5 teaspoons Meringue
2 cups 10X Confectioners Sugar (Powdered)*

Whip for 5 minutes at high speed. Keep covered with damp cloth. Icing should stand to 3-4 inch peak on spatula knife, if icing begins to fall slightly after lengthy use, simply rewhip.

*33/4 cups of Confectioners Sugar to one pound.

For a lighter icing, add a tablespoon of water and continue beating. The addition of water and continued beating makes this icing even lighter than boiled icing. When your flowers harden from this lightly beaten icing, they must be handled very carefully because the air cells in the icing tend to crumble. Use this icing when you are making up flowers or various decorations in advance. The icing will dry and you may peel it off your waxed paper and place your decorations on cakes, petits fours, etc. without damaging your decorations.

ROYAL ICING MADE WITH EGG WHITE

3 egg whites (room temperature)
1 lb. confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
The above ingredients are placed in mixing bowl and beaten for 7 to 10 minutes.

This icing is a hard drying icing. Keep covered with damp cloth at all times.

This is used in the same way as the Royal icing with meringue powder, but it will not give as much volume and will not beat up as well for use at a later date.

DECORATING BUTTER CREAM

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
Cream at high speed for 5 minutes.

For tastier icing, use half butter and half shortening To thin down the icing for inscriptions and borders, add a few drops of liquid. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator. Whip up before using the second time.

Flowers made up in advance using this recipe should be placed in the refrigerator to harden slightly and become easy to handle.  

FRENCH BUTTERCREAM

This is a very delicious and unusual buttercream to be used for cake or French pastries. This buttercream has as smooth a texture as whipped cream, and is really delicious.

Make a batch of either of our boiled icing recipes. Spread in sheet pan and let cool completely. Fold in (do not beat) 1/8 lb. of butter at room temperature.

If a thinner consistency is desired, add a few drops of cream.

BOILED ICING WITH MERINGUE POWDER

(A)       2 level tablespoons of meringue powder 1/4 cup of water
(B)       1 cup of granulated sugar
            1/4 cup of water
            1/8 teaspoon Cream of Tarter
(C)       1 cup of confectioner's sugar (powdered)

Mix (A) together by pouring water into bowl and adding meringue powder. Beat at high speed for 7 minutes. Place (B) ingredients in saucepan and boil to 240 degrees.

After beating mixture (A) for 7 minutes, turn to low speed and add (C). Beat together 2 minutes at high speed. When (B) reaches 240 degrees add slowly to mixture (A) and (C), and beat together at high speed for 5minutes.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of desired flavoring.

Boiled Icing may be kept for one week or more if placed in an air tight container or sealed with damp cloth over a bowl. To reuse, simply beat, do not add any ingredients. This icing is ideal for flower and border work, as it will never run or weep regardless of weather. To prevent crusting—keep icing covered with damp cloth at all times.

BOILED ICING USING EGG WHITES

(A)	2 cups granulated sugar. 1/2 cup of water. 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar.
(B)	4 egg whites (at room temperature). 1 1/2 cups of  sifted confectioners sugar

Cook "A" to 240 degrees, do not let mixture crystallize on the sides of the pan. You can prevent this from happening by washing the sides of the pan down with warm water and a brush. Repeat the washing-down process about halfway through being careful not to stir the batch.

While the sugar is boiling place "B" in a mixing bowl and whip at high speeds for 7 minutes. Pour "A" in slowly and whip for 3 minutes more. Turn down to second speed and add "C" gradually. Turn back to high speed and whip the entire contents for 5 minutes more.

You will not be able to rebeat this icing on the following day and have it regain its stiff consistency as you do when using our meringue powder.
Keep covered with damp cloth while using.

ORNAMENTING TUBES AND THEIR USES

Ornamenting tubes are the tools basic to cake decorating and general ornamenting. Although there are nearly 100 tubes in use today, all practical needs are met through the use of the 10 tubes described in this book. The authors have developed and are marketing a cake decorating kit designed especially for the readers of this book. This kit includes these 10 basic tubes, all of which are shown below.

Every border and flower shown in this book, no matter how intricate or complicated it looks, was made with these simple tubes. Keeping this in mind, you can see that decorating skill comes from careful pressure control—the squeezing and relaxing of pressure on the cone. With smooth, co-ordinated movements of the nail and the cone, almost any flower can be made. With the will to learn and the proper instruction, you can become an expert in the field of fine cake decorating. Any type of material may be used for decorations as long as it flows through the cone or the tube and will hold its shape. In preparing your various materials for decorating, keep in mind the consistency of your icings. If the substance goes through the tube and loses its form, then it is too thin. If too much pressure is required to push it through the tube, then your substance must be thinned down slightly. With this in mind, we shall proceed with the uses of the tube.

This tube is used for writing on a cake top, string work, and many types of figure piping, such as the Swan, Bird and Stork. We also use this tube for making our stems on our cake tops or when any type of small fine work is required.

This tube is used for figure piping of larger objects such as the Clown, Witch, Baby Booties and many types of scrolls where a slightly larger opening is required. Many types of border work may also be made using this tube, as will be fully illustrated in detail under Border Work.

This tube is used in many different variations of border work and for heavier types of scroll work that go on the side of a cake and also in some cases for a heavy string work. One of the first simple flowers that we shall make will be made with this tube, as illustrated above.

The No. 190 tube is used for making drop flowers. A five petal flower is made simply by squeezing and turning. By changing color and stamen, many different varieties of flowers can be formed. Using pink, an Apple Blossom; white for an Orange Blossom; purple for the Violet.

This tube is used for a Shell Border, Rope Border, Small Rosettes, and a number of very simply constructed flowers. With the proper pressure control, using a simple squeeze and a stop, it is possible to make many dainty flowers, as will be illustrated in detail under Flower Making.

This tube is similar to your No. 30 star tube except that the opening is slightly larger and has many tiny cuts at the tip of the opening. We will use this tube on a number of larger type borders as illustrated and also a number of small flowers can be made very simply using this tube.

As the name implies, this tube is used in making a leaf. The size of the leaf depends on the amount of pressure that is applied in squeezing the cone.  By moving the tube along as you squeeze, a longer leaf may be formed as shown. This tube also may be used for variations in border designs.

This tube is used for many different types of smaller flowers, such as the tiny rose bud, apple blossom, daisy or dahlia.  Whenever working on small objects such as petits fours or cupcakes, a small tube such as this will be required in making a number of flowers. This tube may also be used for various types of border work, which will be illustrated in detail in later chapters,

This is the most important and versatile tubes. As many as 20 different flowers are formed with this simple tube. The Sweetpea, Half Rose, Yellow of decorating Jonquil, Carnation, Pansy are just a few of the many  flowers that are made using this tube. Many border variations are also made with this tube

This tube is very similar to the smaller No. 104 tube and is used to make all of our larger flowers. A few of the flowers are illustrated above, such as the Briar Rose, the large American Beauty Rose and even the Orchid, A number of large borders will also be made using this tube.

This is a flower nail and is used in conjunction with  various tubes to form many types of flowers and decorations. This nail is held with the thumb and forefinger. The nail is turned in a counter-clockwise direction. When making a flower from a hard drying icing, an inch and a half square of waxed paper is placed on the    nail. This is done by placing a dot of icing on the nail and sticking the waxed paper to it. By holding your cone of icing in your right hand, and applying pressure,  the petals are formed on your nail. As the pressure is applied, the nail is turned, thus forming a petal. When the flower is completed, slide the waxed paper off the nail onto a pan and after drying, the flower is peeled from the waxed paper. Using this method as many flowers as desired may be made using the one nail, In your first few efforts working with a nail, you will      find it difficult to turn the nail in a smooth coordinated movement. But with a little practice you will become very proficient. If you are making a flower in buttercream or a softer type icing, the flower is made directly on the nail and is lifted off with a pair of scissors. This is possible only when making the larger flowers. If a very tiny flower was made in this manner, directly on the nail, it would be impossible to lift the flower off the nail without damaging the flower.

CONSTRUCTING A PAPER CONE

The one thing that discourages a beginner from using paper cones is not knowing how to construct one properly. With five minutes practice, you can become very proficient in making a cone.

The idea is to roll the paper into a cone-like shape. The tip of the cone is cut off, and the tube is dropped inside the cone. This cone is then filled with a decorating icing and closed up by folding or rolling over. Although any type of paper can be used, the best is a vegetable parchment. If this is not obtainable, waxed paper may be used. The heavier the waxed paper, the easier it is to construct the cone. Brown wrapping paper is satisfactory if not used for any great length of time. It absorbs moisture and will break when wet. Vegetable parchment comes in various sizes and cuts. A recent development in the art of cake decorating is the introduction of flexible and transparent plastic cones. These cones offer several important advantages—they are strong and easily handled, the plastic may be washed and the cones re-used many times. The kit prepared by the authors for the readers of this book includes these new plastic cones.

To make a paper cone, from a 9" roll of paper, first roll out a sheet approximately 17" long. Lay the sheet of paper flat on a table. Grasp the outer edges between your thumb and forefinger.

Turn the right hand corner and roll the right hand until a partial cone is formed.

Circle the right hand with the left hand. Move your hands back and forth to adjust the point of the cone until it is needle sharp.

After the cone is formed, hold the completed cone firmly, at the top with thumb and fingers as shown in the illustration. Cut off the tip about 1/2 to 3/4 inches from the end, depending on the size of the tube you are using. Drop tube into cone.

Do not fill the cone over 3/4 full. After the cone is full, the top of the cone is folded in. This keeps the icing from backing out of the cone as pressure is applied.

CONSTRUCTING A SMALL CONE

For a small cone, an oblong piece of parchment paper may be cut in half and the same procedure followed using the long side of the triangle to construct the cone. As the cone becomes empty, it is necessary to continue folding the top down as the icing is forced out.

TUBE WRITING

The cone is held with the thumb and two fingers. Pressure is applied thru fingers and thumb. The cone is held at a 45 degree angle to the writing surface.

STEMS

When making stems or stamens on flowers the small cone is held in the above position. The entire hand is used to apply pressure.

STRINGWORK

When working on the side of a cake or doing fine string work a more controlled pressure is obtained by holding the cone with thumb and two fingers.

ROPER METHOD OF HOLDING A CONE. DETAILS OF PRESSURE CONTROL

After you have constructed your cone, place your tube in it and fill the cone with icing. The next, and most important step, is to apply pressure to the cone so that the icing will flow out the tip. You might imagine that you can simply take a tube full of icing and give it a squeeze and the icing will simply flow out the proper end. You will find on your first few attempts that this is not the case. Before applying pressure to the cone, be sure cone is folded properly to eliminate back-flow of icing.

The next step is very important. Place the cone in your right hand. Your right hand should be at the very top of the cone as illustrated. The first two fingers of the left hand are used to guide or steady the cone. In teaching many students to decorate, we find that there is a tendency to use the left hand for holding the cone and also quite often the student will tend to squeeze with the left hand. If this procedure is followed, it is impossible to move the cone in a free easy glide and would also tend to push the icing out the wrong end of the cone.

For most of the border work, the cone is held at an angle of 45 degrees to the working surface as illustrated.

Illustrated is the proper method of holding the cone while working on a flower nail. The tube is held at a 45 degree angle from the surface. This position is explained in detail under Flowers.

Illustrates the tube being held perpendicular. For a position such as this the cone is still held in the same manner and the left hand is used again as a guide.

Some very simple borders and flowers will be made and explained in detail with the tube held in this manner.

Illustrates the proper method of holding the cone when working on the side of a cake or when writing on a cake top. Notice that a very small cone is being used and that the pressure is applied at the top of the cone with the thumb. The left finger is used as a guide.

EXERCISE No. 1

Step No. 1. Using the same No. 16 star tube, hold the tube at a 45 degree angle and touch the pan. Apply pressure with the right hand and draw a straight line approximately 2 inches long. As the tube is moved along, an easy, continuous pressure must be applied. If the icing breaks, it is because you have relaxed pressure. If your icing builds up or pushes from side to side, it is because you are applying too much pressure. Continue this straight line and then try crossing the line as illustrated.

Step No. 2 is a series of lines going off at an angle. The line starts at the top and moves down at a 45 degree angle. To cross this line and make an X the tube must be lifted up slightly as you move over your first line.

Step No. 3 is a series of crosses with a slight curlicue on the end. These various movements will help you change directions while continuing pressure on the cone.

Step No. 4. This series of exercise is accomplished by making a slight curve while moving the tube in a side to side motion. After practicing three movements in the same direction try reversing the direction as illustrated, in step No. 3 of this exercise.

Step No. 5,the tube must be touching the pan slightly at all times. A steady easy movement must be maintained in order to make a uniform design. The first curve is to the right, stop squeezing. The second curve is to the left and so on. You will encounter some difficulty to begin with in knowing when to start to apply pressure and knowing when to stop applying pressure as you come to the end of your movement you will tend to continue squeezing which will draw your lines out too long.

Step No. 6,a curve is started in the same way as above except a slight reverse curve is worked in at the end of the exercise. The first one is started off from the left side and the next one from the right side. This exercise will help you reverse your design as you use a continuous even pressure.

EXERCISE NO. 2
 
Rest the No. 16 tube on your pan at a 45 degree angle. Apply pressure and move the tube along in a slight curving motion. If the icing tends to build up or become stretched out, it is because you are varying the pressure of your cone or the speed you are moving along the pan.

Step No. 2. For this movement, the same amount of pressure is applied to the cone while maintaining the side to side motion.

Step No. 3. This exercise will give you practice in breaking off or discontinuing your lines. If you find that when you stop, your icing tends to continue flowing from the tip of the tube, it is because you are not completely discontinuing your pressure. Now try it once more.

Step No. 4. For this particular design a slight loop movement is maintained while continuing an even pressure on your cone.

Step No. 5. A line is first drawn out as in exercise No. 1. After the line is drawn the small curled designs are then worked in as illustrated. A small dot is placed upon each curl which forms a design which may be used on the side of a cake.

Step No. 6. A long curved line is first drawn on your pan. Again the tube is held at a 45 degree angle. After this line is formed, tiny dots using the same tube are worked off each curve as illustrated.

EXERCISE No. 3
 
Step No. 1. Using the same No. 16 star tube a long curving line is first drawn on your pan. This is formed by moving your tube slightly from side to side as you draw your tube along your pan. The small curlicues worked into each of the curves are formed by first making a dot on the pan, turning slightly and working into the line as you relax pressure. When you have finished this exercise, these small curlicues should work into the first line so smoothly that it is impossible to tell it was made after the first line was drawn.

Step No. 2. This series of exercises are completed by applying the same amount of pressure to your cone as you move your tube along diminishing your side to side motion forming a triangle. This will give you practice in changing the direction of your movement while continuing pressure and yet forming a definite design.

Step No. 3. This series of exercise is accomplished by moving the tube in a slight side to side motion, while following a curved pattern.

  Step No. 4. The same procedure is followed as in the above exercise. After this is completed where each of the curves are attached, the tube is placed in the center, pressure is applied and the tube is moved from side to side and is drawn down.

Step No. 5. Touch the pan holding the tube at a 45 degree angle. Apply pressure and move the tube slowly in a side to side motion. As the icing builds up, relax pressure slightly and then diminish pressure to bring icing off to a point. Continue this a few times and then work in smaller curves into each side of the design, as illustrated. This will give you practice in building up your icing designs. Step No. 6. A slight curved line is first drawn along your pan. The built up lines worked into the pattern are placed on in the same manner as the above exercise.

EXERCISE No. 4

Step No. 1. Hold your No. 16 star tube perpendicular to your pan. Apply pressure, discontinue pressure and pull away. If the dot tends to stretch out from your pan it is because you do not relax pressure completely before moving your tube away from your pan.

Step. No. 2. Touch your pan, apply pressure and make a circular motion. As you complete your circle discon- tinue pressure and continue moving in a circle. This will  break your icing off in an even uniform circle, as illustrated.

Step No. 3. Holding the cone perpendicular to the pan, apply pressure, start an easy circular movement as illustrated. The tube must be touching the pan slightly at all times.           

Step No. 4. The center design is started first. Holding the tube at a 45 degree angle, apply pressure and move your tube along diminishing pressure as you go. The same procedure is followed for the two lines moving off to an angle. First heavy pressure and then light pressure as you continue moving along.

Step No. 5. This series of exercises is accomplished by following a curved motion starting with a very gentle pressure then increasing this pressure and moving your tube back and forth slightly. Where the curved line diminishes in size the pressure is decreased. Step No. 6. The scroll design is accomplished by first drawing the design out with a No. 16 star tube. The design is then gone over using the same tube in a series of circular motions while pressure is applied.

After working with all of your pressure controls on a pan, we suggest you try a few simple exercises on a pie tin. This will give you practice decorating on a simulated cake top.

Fill a No. 16 Star Tube with white icing. Work approximately 1/2" from the edge of the pan.

These first exercises are easy side-to-side movements. The problem is to keep the forms an even distance from the edge of the tin and evenly spaced.

Place a rosette in the center. Use the rosette as a focus point and work in the seven small designs around it.

This simulated cake top was decorated entirely with a No. 16 Star Tube. These designs are made in the same manner used when working on your pressure controls.

The purpose of this exercise is to help you obtain uniformity and neatness. Be careful with your spacing and you will have a neatly finished cake top.

In practicing these variations of pressure control you will have more success when making the longer forms. This is because you get into the rhythm of doing one particular movement. Keep this in mind when you start working with the more advanced borders. Do one thing at a time around the entire cake when working on any particular border. Then, when the first step is completed start the second phase of your border and so on. Changing tubes and movements on each section of any border will tend to slow you down, and even more important—it will be impossible to keep your decorating uniform.

In this exercise, you change pace with each new form, so do not become discouraged if your cake pan looks a little uneven.

COLOR TECHNIQUES

here are three forms of food coloring on the market— paste, liquid and powdered. Paste colors are preferred for several reasons, and paste colors are used and recommended by all professional decorators for the same reasons. Paste colors will not change the consistency of your icings as liquid colors will do. They are much stronger, giving you deeper, darker colors. Paste colors are more concentrated—with a little going a long way. Paste colors can and are being used to make liquid colors. Paste colors come in jars and tubes. The Wilton paste colors are packaged in tubes for more convenient handling, less waste and elimination of the danger of colors mixing.

BLENDING AND MIXING PASTE COLORS

To add paste colors to your icing, the following steps should be followed

1.	Cut a small portion of icing from the main body of icing in your bowl, and keep it separated along the side of the bowl. Place a small dab of paste color on your spatula-knife.
2.	Mix the paste into the small portion of icing on the side of your bowl. Be careful not to mix it in with the main portion of icing in this step.
3.	Mix the small portion thoroughly and add paste
4.	Stir the small portion of icing into the contents of the rest of the bowl, mixing it thoroughly so the color is evenly blended through the entire icing. color as necessary to get the shade of coloring desired. It is better to get a slightly deeper shade at this point for when you mix it into the entire contents of the bowl, it will of course become a lighter color.

IMPORTANT—If another color must be added to obtain a particular shade, repeat the steps outlined in 1 to 3, before you stir the first portion into the rest of the icing in your bowl.

HOW TO MIX AND BLEND COLORED ICINGS
 
While the importance of the proper use of color in cake decorating cannot be overemphasized, it should also be mentioned here that the simple principles can be easily learned and once learned can be applied with unvarying success to even the most ambitious cake decorating project.

COLOR

Before actually going into the subject of colored icings, a short discussion of color itself may be in order. The full study of color can, of course, occupy a lifetime, but in its application to cake decorating it may be greatly simplified. To begin with, the same rules that apply to the mixing of the artist's colors apply as well to food coloring. When the artist wants green he mixes the proper proportions of blue and yellow, and when the picture calls for violet he merely mixes red and blue. A glance at the "color wheel" illustrated at right will show how all the possible color combinations are made from the three primary colors—blue, yellow and red.

COLORED ICING

Although several coloring agents are available, paste colors have been found to be the most generally satisfactory. The range of colors available to the decorator, in addition to the primaries—red, blue and yellow— include violet, green, brown and pink. The color wheel, of course, shows us that we can get along very well with only the 3 primaries.

In using paste colors, it is well to remember that a little goes a long way. A relatively small amount of the intense paste color will tint a large amount of white icing. The colored icing and not the paste colors are used in mixing other colors, since paste colors by themselves are too intense for accurate color blending. We do, however, use paste colors full strength when we add them to water to prepare a colored spray. The illustrations on the preceding page demonstrate step by step the approved method of color mixing and blending. Throughout this book we describe the colors used in
various decorations. The color wheel tells us how to obtain any color from various combinations of the three primary colors. It remains now to modify the colors obtained (dark or light—warm or cold) to suit our requirements. For example: we mix a small amount of blue icing and a small amount of yellow icing and blend the two together to obtain a green icing. Chances are that the resulting color will be too deep (too green) for, let us say, spring foliage. We simply add more yellow to the mixture to get a "spring" green and then blend in enough white icing to obtain the light tint required.

After we have learned to produce any color we require, we can then consider some refinements in the use of color. For example: a cake decorated with bright colored flowers may appear too "contrasty" because of the strength and variety of the colors used. The contrast can be reduced and the color scheme rendered more harmonious by adding very small amounts of the colors of each flower into the green of its leaves. This is called "graying" and is very effective especially when the color is left in streaks rather than thoroughly mixed into the green.

In general avoid deep colors except for small areas (accents) and perhaps in Christmas and Halloween cakes. Follow nature in choosing color schemes and allow your creative imagination to guide you.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOR TECHNIQUE IN MODERN CAKE DECORATING

Knowledge of the proper color techniques will help you in obtaining natural coloring, dramatic effects, unusual combinations and in general will help make your decorated cakes look more beautiful, colorful and outstanding.

The 6 techniques described here will serve as a guide and an outline to which you will undoubtedly add your own techniques as you become more familiar and accomplished in the coloring of your own decorated pieces.

SPATULA STRIPING

This is the most usual color blending method. After placing a tube in the cone, use a small bow knife and put a one inch strip of colored icing down the entire side of the cone. After striping the cone, fill the remainder of the cone with white icing. As an example, let's say you want to make some pink and white roses. The pink will appear on the inside, of the rose and the white should be out at the tips. This simulates the way nature bleaches out the rose at the tips of the petals. In this case you would strip the large side of a No. 104 tube in pink icing with a strip approximately 1/2 inch thick and 1 inch wide and the remainder would be filled with white icing. Then as you make your rose, the petals will be pink except for the tips which are white.

This method of striping can and should be used on borders. In making a shell border with a large star tube, the cone should have a narrow strip of colored icing on one side. The rest of the cone is filled with white icing. This gives the border a beautiful two-tone effect.

DEEP COLOR METHOD

For all cake decorating experts the problem of getting a deep red or green is almost an impossibility. By using the brush method of striping, this becomes relatively simple. First make up some medium colored icing. Place paste color on brush, and swab it around the entire inside of the cone. After this is completed, fill your cone with the colored icing. With this method all of the coloring is on the outside of the flower or border and is not wasted on the inner part.

This method can be used for many different occasions and is not only practical but makes your colors go much further.

MASKING METHODS

This method, illustrated on the opposite page in the winter scene cake, is a technique similar to the use of a stencil. The desired pattern or figure is cut out of a piece of heavy cardboard. This mask can then be used over and over again. The icing may be applied with a spatula to the cake areas not covered by the mask, or colored areas may be sprayed on.

In the illustrated cake, a separate mask was used for the sky, mountains and evergreens. In producing a large number of cakes with the same design, use one on all cakes successively and then go over the cakes with the other masks in turn. After the icing or coloring has been applied by the masking method, further cake decorating process may be accomplished by piping.

COLOR STRIPING

This is a new idea in striping your cone with many different colors and still using a plain white icing. For a fall leaf effect, strip the cone in 3 places. First with brown coloring on each side, then with green in the middle. These strips should be about 1/8 of an inch wide and extend from top to bottom of the cone. After striping is completed, the cone is filled with pastel green icing. The leaves will have a beautiful three tone effect; a pastel green leaf with brown on each side and a deep green shade in the center. All of this is done simply by making 3 strips.

SPRAYING METHOD

The spraying method of coloring is becoming more popular every day. In using this method, no expensive equipment is necessary. It will cost you just 20c for an atomizer at any Art store. With this simple atomizer, all of your spraying equipment is taken care of. The flowers are made up first on wax paper in white icing. Then take a small glass of water and color it delicately with paste color. The flowers are then sprayed with the colored water with the atomizer. These flowers must be made up and sprayed before the cake decorating procedure. Very deep colors may be attained by simply making your water a dark color.

BLENDING PULLED SUGAR

Fall leaves, the orchid and similar cake decorating figures in pulled sugar require two or more colors. The blending of the colors is easily achieved. As an example, consider the fall leaf: A one inch strip of yellow candy is placed on top of a piece of green candy three inches in diameter. The leaf is then pulled out as described in detail under Pulled Sugar. As the leaf is formed, the two colors blend giving the desired effect. Another small piece of candy in a third color may be added to create pulled sugar in three blended colors.

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