Cake A Difference for Bliss

Gel food colouring has infinitely improved my confidence making icing.  After the problems I’d had getting the right colours when making the Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake, I decided to invest in some gel food colouring.  Mine are little pots of Wilton gel food colouring which come in a box of eight colours.  They cost around £8 which sounded a lot to me, hence my not buying them sooner, but when you consider that some liquid food colourings in the supermarket cost nearly a pound each and you are getting eight bottles which will last you an awful lot longer and give you much greater control over the colour obtained, I have decided they are excellent value for money. I imagine they are available all sorts of places online but I bought mine at Lakeland.

Liquid food colouring, as well as failing to get deep pigment without using an entire bottle and it tasting horrible anyway, is clumsy to apply to icing. One slip with the spoon and you’ve had it.  Gel food colouring on the other hand, gives you far greater control. You dip a cocktail stick in the gel and swirl this round in your icing before mixing throughly with a small palette knife. Repeat this as required until you get the colour you want.

These cupcakes were made for my sister-in-law Susie and her family.  It was my first time both using gel food colouring and piping lettering.  I was using disposable plastic piping bags with the end snipped off. I think I would get thinner icing with a proper fine nozzle but as I was experimenting with the colours and was in a hurry I didn’t have time to keep washing my canvas piping bag.  Most of the names required were quite short and it’s only my own name, Sarah, that I bodged.  Not bad for a first go!

I need more practice and am hoping to get this over the next couple of weeks as I have just been asked to make some cupcakes for a baby shower and also I am intending to take part in a charity event for Bliss, the UK’s leading premature baby charity, called “Cake A Difference” for which I would like to make people cupcakes with lettering on.  Some of you last year may have read my previous post “HELLP I’m supposed to still be pregnant” which explains my interest in supporting a charity for premature babies. At the time I’d been bemoaning that there was no way for bloggers, food or otherwise in the UK to support Bliss but happily they have now launched this event.  I will update you on my Cake A Difference project nearer when it takes place between 8-14 February.