Hello everyone! This week we had a celebration in the form of a tea party for one of my co-workers. Since Coco is a fan of my cookies, I just had to make something for her. And they had to be fabulous AND elegant. I had an idea to have mini swirl roses over some lattice and scroll work with tiny tiny lines.
Now originally I wanted these guys to be purple. A nice deep rich reddish purple was the goal. But for some reason when I mixed red and blue color gels into the white it made brown. Yup, BROWN. Color theory failed me. So I tried again with a smaller amount of white frosting. Red and blue make brown! And not just a dark purple-brown, I mean like mud brown. Brian compared it to baby poop. Great. Okay so the laws of the world were broken last week. I have no idea why. I can’t even blame Friday the 13th because I made them on Tuesday.
Anyway I got sick of messing with the blue and just went for red. Eventually I landed on the color that you see here. I’m actually happier with it than I probably would have been with the purple. It has an antique kind of feel which I really like. Consequently, I tried again this weekend to mix red and blue together and got my pretty purple. I don’t know anymore.
Aside from having my knowledge and faith in color theory severely shaken, I did learn some things. I learned that I love love love the #1 tip. Tiny lines and details are so much fun to make. Except for the flooding and roses, all the details were done with the #1 tip.
I also learned a trick for making straight lines. Now, granted, the line work got better as I went along, but I found that if you focus on the end point then all will be well. Start your line where you want it to be then lift the icing, (making sure you squeeze out a steady amount so the line doesn’t break) and set the tip down at the other end of the line. Not only will you get straight lines, but it is so much easier to keep the spacing equal.
I’m pretty proud of these cookies. Originally I didn’t add in the green leaves for the roses, but I kept looking at the cookies and thinking that there was something missing. Eventually I decided to add leaves. It added just the right accent and more importantly, a focal point which definitely tied everything together.
Until next time!
Love and cookies,
Sherry
Frosted Bear Bakery 