so, today i met with a bride that had a photo of a cake she liked...3 tiers, two quilted, with gumpaste calla lilies on it. It's doable for me!

but, as i was going through the consultation i realized...she was asking for NAVY BLUE omg, what is up with these brides and wanting a full color on their cake!?

I did my damage control in the consultation...informed her that navy blue buttercream is going to be very messy with the "smashing of the cake in the face" thing. Oh man...that's all the couple could talk about! i did convince them that fondant would be best, especially with it being june and the color could possibly run in the heat!

but, what should I do as the decorator here?? navy blue colored cake, lilac colored fondant ribbon on the bottom, pearls, and then ivory calla lilies. Doesn't this just sound like a disaster cake!? plus, i'm worried about doing all that NAVY blue on the cake...I can never get that color right!

what's your advice? TIA

Navy blue buttercream causes green poop!

I think it's the cake that the couple wants and it's what would make them happy. So put aside your own feelings about it, in the end it's for them and their day

Draw the design up and color it in. See if they like the colors that way.

To achieve a good navy blue, I add a little black. Or you can buy it pre made that color.

I actually really like navy blue with lilac.

Once you tell people that colored icing will turn everybody's teeth whatever color they generally rethink the idea. Deep colored fondant will do that too.

I'll suggest to customers use ribbon (fondant or satin) to pick up deep wedding colors. Like say the white or ivory cake with navy ribbon and lilac flowers (fresh or gumpaste). A little color goes a long way kind of concept.

Draw it up in the colors the bride wanted. Then draw it again and reverse the colors so the cake is lavender and the ribbon is navy blue. She just might like that better.

I had to do a navy blue fondant cake for a Navy change of command and found that the easiest solution was to airbrush the color on. It worked well. Unfortunately I am stuck with a huge bottle of navy blue airbrush color since they didn't sell a small bottle. But I do live in a Navy town...

Not to get off-subject but it made me realize how toxic airbrushing can be. My DH was blowing blue snot out of his nose from breathing in the fine mist and he wasn't even in the immediate room! I also had blue tinged mucus coming out of my sinuses. So always wear a face mask.

Although its unconventional, I think it could be quite beautiful. I would never do colored buttercream, but fondant would be really pretty. Just think outside the box.



Edited to say, that is NOT my cake. It's a http://pinkpeachcakes.com/index2.php cake.

I think Navy blue can be quite elegant...but it can also fade quickly in bright light such as fluorescents so keep it covered. It is also one of the worst colors to get out of clothes and linens and stains teeth and tongues as mentioned earlier. You could approach the bride by saying, 'You know this will make a very lovely cake and I am more than happy to do it for you, but I want you to be aware of a few things when dealing with a deep color like this"...and go into your reservations. And I also think having a lavender cake with a navy ribbon...or some other options for them to look at might at least get them thinking in a better direction. You might ask too how it's going to be displayed. Will it be an afternoon reception or an evening reception where it might be lit by not much more than candlelight. It might skew to black and you could lose details on it. Ultimately it's the brides choice, and if she's making an informed decision based on your info, then you gotta roll with it! good luck...I bet it will be beautiful no matter what!

Hi, I use a program called wedding cake design pro. it allows you to show colors and a range of options for consideration before making the cake so the customer gets a fair idea what the cake will look like when complete. Great for saving color disasters.http://weddingcakedesignpro.com/

I have achieved Navy Blue in fondant but by the time I did my fondant was VERY sticky and no matter what I added to it I couldn't get it a good consistency again. Hopefully you can do the airbrush like mentioned above. I would do a couple of sketches and run them past the bride and I bet once she sees some of your creativity she will be mucho impressed and pick a different design. Best of Luck!!

Sometimes I think that we, as designers get "stuck" in our own head a little...I am doing a home theater design (not my normal job--partner owns a "Smart home" / Home Theater business and the couple didn't have anyone to design it for them, hence, I was asked to do it) for a couple who have completely the opposite taste as mine!! And when the guy sent e a photo of the color scheme he wanted to work from, that in addition to the type of design, I thought that I was going to scream!! and that there would be no way I could pull this off. But then my partner reminded me that this was THEIR theater, not OUR theater and it opened my mind up to all of the possibilities. Now, I'm having a ball working on this project!! And cant wait for the client's to see the final product of "my" work!!
Also, to help a little...I had one of the top designers in the area tell me that the BEST designers are the ones that can pull off ANY style and make it look as if they loved doing it. Even if they hated it.

It can, yes. Kinda gross, sounds immature, but it does. Fromscratchsf's cake is beautiful!

Whether or not they change the colours is yet to be seen But if you do end up needing navy blue fondant, I found the easiest way to do so without making it sticky was to buy the blue satin ice and slowly add black fondant to it until you get the navy blue you are happy with. HTH

One of the PPs was exactly right with the coloring... buy Satin Ice blue and black and mix them together to the correct shade and you won't have any consistency issues. If you are worried about fading, though, airbrushing won't do that (or at least is far, far reduced)

I had a cake with some crazy colors. I didn't try to talk the bride OUT of it, but I suggested we use 1 or 2 of the colors and not all three because it looked awful in my head! I drew a picture and colored and she loved it! Ah well. I made the cake....and in the end, I liked it! Still not what I would have chosen to do, but it looked good! I would draw up a few versions for her and then just jump into whatever she decides! I also use my airbrush for colors that are too hard to make (red, black, etc.) but I think the blue/black satin ice sounds like the best solution here!

I look forward to seeing this cake!

I cover my cakes with modeling chocolate, and navy is one of the easiest colors to make. Just make it with the blue candy melts and add violet gel color to it. It doesn't take very much and doesn't affect the texture/taste of the modeling chocolate.

I have made navy blue fondant many times (mostly for yankee and batman cakes) and I just make blue fondant and add some black to it- works great every time (plus colors darken as they sit overnight)