When I was at a photographers ordering pics today, he asked me a question about buttercream and I didn't have an answer for him. He said he was taking photos of a wedding (a gold theme) and people were coming up to the bride saying how cool it was that her cake was a yellow-gold color to match the brides maids dresses. The bride freaked and ran inside to see, since it was suppose to be a white cake and it sure enough looked like an in between color of yellow and gold. They called the person who made it and they said that the lighting inside the hall must have changed the color from white since it was florecent (s/p?) Weird thing is they didn't meen the look from the lighting but the buttercream itself changed that color. Said some chemical reaction with the lights changed it and there was nothing they could have done about it. I've never heard of anything like this??? Does this actually happen or is this a load of bull?
I told them I'd call with an answer once I asked here on CC.
Doubt it unless the cake went rancid. I undertsand the thing about the lighting-It can change the look of a cake by alot. I did a competition cake and I had pink fabric that was along the base of the cake. It matched perfect until night when the lights were on.
i dont think the light actually changes the colour of the bttercream, just the appearance of the buttercream...and maybe if the bc was made with real butter, that was just the colour of it...
Yeah that doesn't sound right. They probably messed up and didn't want to admit it.
I've experienced this kind of thing working with Swarovski crystals. Most colors look the same no matter what lighting, but there are a couple that are very different. Tanzanite is a beautiful purple color in natural light, and very distinctly baby blue under flourescent light. There's another color that is a lovely light cantelope green color under flourescents and light tan in natural light. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some flavorings/icing colorings that have the same effect.
The weird part is when she took a peice of cake under different lighting it was still that yellow-gold colour. That's why she was upset. I've never had white buttercream change under florecent lighting structure wise where it changed the whole colour of the cake, just wondering what you all think.
Ok if this really did actually change color then how do you account for all the cakes done in buttercream in Tulsa for OSSAS? Did not see yellow cakes there is flouresant lighting all over! Complete nonsense if you ask me. Yes it can look different but actually change the color of the icing probably not!
Yeah, if she took a piece of cake out into natural light to check out the color and it was the same, the lighting excuse is bull.
But I'm always suspicious of brides. After having worked in the bridal industry for almost six years now, I'm sick of brides saying things like "but it's the wrong shade of off white!" It's a REAL pearl. I don't have control over exactly what shade of off white it is. And it's 3 itty bitty pearls in a hairpin in your hair. NOBODY will notice the slight difference!
So if it weren't for the guests comments, my guess would be that the bride requested an all-butter buttercream and then freaked when it wasn't virginal snow white. It's a puzzling mystery!
Any bets for the decorator using butter flavored crisco and getting a yellow icing???? 
Can't figure what else could do it besides food coloring 
I'm thinking the cake decorator messed up and thought she could "flim flam" the bride. 
I personally think since asking you all that the baker made a mistake and tried covering it up! The photographer said it was nowhere near a white or even off white so I can't help but to think he's telling the trueth since he's a third party and said he would try to find the pics so I could post them here. Kurt said the cake almost matched the bridesmaids gold dresses was just about 2 shades lighter. I know this sounds odd, it did to me too!
I'm thinking it must be from the color of the butter. I once made two batches of buttercream in the same day. Both with the same amount of butter, however the brand of butter was different. Once the cakes were done, there were at least two shades difference. I never put the cubes of butter side to side before, and tried it afterwards. There were HUGE differences in the shades. I talked with a professional baker afterwards and he explained to me how both butter and eggs can have dramatically different colors and to keep that in mind if you need to match.
My guess would be the butter or flavorings added to the buttercream. If a flavoring was added which was not clear that could result is some discoloration. The color may have been different from what she ordered, but it also seems to me that if she had a lot of people complimenting her on matching her cake to the bridesmaid's dresses she should have gone with it at that point. She probably would not have received that many positive reactions with a plain white cake, even if that was what she originally wanted. Maybe the cake decorator is has found a new hit for a wedding cake since many brides are looking for something "different".
I think the decorator could have come up with a better excuse don't you? Sounds like he/she really just made a mistake.
Well I can say for a fact that I know the lights can make the colors change in icing but this is white icing gone yellow... I had a cake sitting in fluresent (spw) lighting for over 3 hours (the white with yellow trim sheet cake in my photos) and the white didn't change on it at all! The yellow trim and writing didn't even bleed into it after days of being eaten on, I know because I had a piece 3 days after the funeral I made it for. I've never had any issues with white icing changing colors so whatever this lady did she doesn't want to fess up about and is lying thru her teeth. 
Correct me if I am totally wrong here, but if it were a 'reaction' with the lights, wouldn't it just be the outer crust of the icing that changed, and if you scraped into it, the icing underneath would still be white. And what about the icing between the layers... that wouldn't have been exposed and therefore would not have changed (unless she had fillings instead, of course). I would ask about that. I am very curious to know about this... personally I think the decorator is, well, I hate to say *lying*, but unfortunately I guess that describes what I think he/she is doing. Let us know if you get any more definitive information. I am intrigued.
I am also intrigued to hear what really happened. I'm guessing something went wrong and the decorator covered it by saying chemical reaction to save herself. Having that said, I know fluorescent lights will discolor things. I worked in a restarant/deli and we had sandwiches in a self serve case. After a couple hours, ham and other deli meats take on a grayish cast even if they are fresh and wrapped very tightly. Having experienced a chem reaction like that, it is possible, but in this case, not likely. Kind of cool that her mistake ended up matching the bridesmaids though.
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