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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 childrens
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 (confectioners), and
blended syrup (corn and refiners). 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.
Decorators 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,
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