To color frosting, first blend the coloring into a small amount of frosting. Then add this blend gradually to the rest of the frosting until the desired shade is obtained. Use paste shades. Dark colors, such as bright red, blue, and  green,  should  be  used  only  for  accents  and  for holiday  cakes. Secondary  colors  may  be  obtained  by  blending primary  colors: . Blue and yellow make green. .  Yellow  and  red  make  orange. . Red and blue make violet. By shading violet with blue, purple is obtained; violet with red yields a reddish violet. By using red or orange, you can make red or yellow-orange by shading orange with either red or yellow. Blue-green will result when green is shaded with yellow or blue. Try to keep icing colors as close to nature as possible by leaning toward pastels. If you must use bright colors, use them sparingly, as accents mostly, and for children’s and  holiday  cakes.  Concentrated  paste  colors  are  best to use. They give you dark shades when you want them and will not thin icings as liquids sometimes do. Decorating Techniques The   NAVSUP   P-421   extensively   describes decorating  techniques,  examples  of  various  decorator designs,  and  includes  exercises  devised  to  give  you practice. Frostings Frostings add to the appearance and flavor of cakes and help to keep them moist. Some cakes, such as pound cake  and  fruitcake,  are  generally  served  without frosting,  but  most  cakes  require  some  kind  of  frosting or glaze. Jelly rolls are filled with jelly or cream filling, and  powdered  sugar  is  sprinkled  on  top. FROSTING INGREDIENTS.— Ingredients  used to prepare frostings include liquids, sugar, fat, flavoring, and salt. Liquids.— Liquids make the frostings soft enough to spread. Milk water, coffee, and various fruit juices are the liquids specified in frosting recipes. Sugar.— The kinds of sugar used to make frostings are  granulated,  brown,  powdered  (confectioner’s),  and blended  syrup  (corn  and  refiner’s).  Powdered  sugar  is preferable in uncooked frosting because it is fine grained and  dissolves  rapidly.  Blended  syrup  prevents  the formation of large crystals that cause graininess in cooked frostings. If too much syrup is used, it will keep cooked  frostings  from  hardening. Fat.— Butter  is  the  fat  ingredient  usually  specified in  the  AFRS  frostings. Flavoring.— The AFRS frosting recipes specify vanilla  flavoring,  but  other  kinds  of  flavoring  may  be substituted where they would be appropriate for the flavor of the cake. Some of the flavorings available are imitation almond, banana, brandy, black walnut, cherry, lemon,  maple,  orange,  peppermint,  pineapple,  and  rum. Salt.— Salt is an important ingredient in frostings because it brings out the other flavors. UNCOOKED FROSTINGS.—  Uncooked frostings are easy and quick to prepare. All ingredients should  be  blended  at  room  temperature.  Powdered sugar is the major ingredient in cream frostings; other basic ingredients are softened butter and liquid. The secret of a good uncooked frosting is thorough creaming until the product is light and fluffy. If frosting is too thick, add a little liquid. If  too  tin,  add  additional powdered   sugar   until   the   desired   consistency   is obtained. More flavoring may be required to prevent a flat sugar taste. Decorator’s  frosting,  a  very  hard  uncooked  frosting, is used to make decorative or special occasion cakes. It is suitable for making designs, flowers, latticework, or other forms. The decorations can be set on waxed paper to  dry  and  then  removed  and  placed  on  the  cake. Because  this  type  of  frosting  dries  rapidly,  unused portions  should  be  covered.  Royal  frosting  is  better  to use for decorating than other frostings that are softer and might run or weep. COOKED FROSTINGS.—  Temperature  is  very important in cooked frostings. Follow the directions given for cooked frostings in the AFRS. For best results, cakes with cooked frostings should be used on the same day they are prepared. CAKE  FROSTING  PROCEDURES.—  Cakes should  be  completely  cooled,  but  not  chilled  before frosting. This prevents the cake from breaking when frosting is spread over it. Remove loose crumbs. The consistence y of the frosting should be such that it spreads easily, but is not so thin that it runs off. The cake should be frosted far enough ahead of time (an hour or more) to allow the frosting to set before it is served. To frost a cake, space six equal portions of frosting evenly over the center of the cake. Using a spatula, 8-19