The First Time I Made Red Buttercream I Almost Cried: A Tale of Cake Decorating and a Lesson in Color Theory
Cake decorating can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a bit of a challenge, especially when it comes to getting the right color for your icing. I learned this the hard way when I was asked to make a cake for a friend’s daughter’s birthday party. She wanted an Elmo cake, complete with red icing. I thought, “How hard could it be?” and agreed to take on the challenge.
Little did I know, red is one of the hardest colors to achieve in icing. I started making the icing the day before the cake was due, thinking everything was going well. But as I added more and more red coloring, instead of turning red, the icing started to turn a strange shade of purple. I panicked and added even more red coloring, only to end up with a brownish shade. It was a disaster.
On the verge of a meltdown at 8:30 PM, I knew I had to do something fast. My partner, Kevin, suggested I head to Michael’s, a local craft store, to get more red coloring. He also did some quick research and found out that I needed to buy some rose pink coloring as well, which would help with making the icing red.
I rushed to Michael’s, grabbed two pink and eight red food colorings, and made a dash for the checkout. I must have looked like a mess, with icing all over my clothes and face. The cashier probably just wanted to get me out of there as quickly as possible!
When I got home, Kevin told me what he found online. Apparently, you have to make the icing pink first and then add the red coloring gradually. By doing this, the icing would become redder instead of turning into an unsightly shade of purple or brown. We also learned that leaving the icing overnight in the fridge would deepen the color.
Armed with this newfound knowledge, I started making the icing again at 9:30 PM. This time, I added pink coloring first, and then red, slowly and gradually.
I also left the icing in the fridge overnight. To my relief, the icing turned out beautifully red the next morning!
In conclusion, my first attempt at making red icing was a bit of a disaster, but I learned an important lesson about color theory. It’s easy to get frustrated when things don’t go as planned, but with a little bit of research and patience, you can achieve great results. And, most importantly, my friend’s daughter loved her Elmo cake, and that’s all that matters in the end!
