Hi everyone ,whenever i bake a birthday cake for an elderly they always complain about the colours. which colours really do they prefer because it is really difficult for me to choose for them!

AI expect there were far fewer colours available when they were young. My suggestion would be to make the colour less vivid. Or to make the base colour pastel

A

'Fewer colors available?' Really? I'm sure you meant that as humorous, but I rather take offense at that. Not that I'm elderly...but I am older...and I would hate to get a cake covered in crayon colors suitable for a child's birthday...unless I had a specific request for one.

Most adults appreciate ALL colors, but perhaps stay away from the primary reds, blues, greens, yellow and use softened versions. Don't use an entire palette on one cake, keep it simple, perhaps one or two...like for a man, avocado green and brown, or blue and grey. Or lightened versions of the same color...pink base, lighter pink polka dots, etc.

The variations are endless...especially NOW that have so many more colors to choose from and fire to bake the cakes with.

AI suggest asking the client what colors they would like.

The term elderly is fine if we lump the old coots together when talking about Social Security recipients or certain geriatric health issues. But to put older citizens into one category when talking about color choice for cakes? You just created a new category for stereotyping older folks. And we don't like stereotypes, right?

 

I'm with scrumdiddlycakes. When you take an order, ask what color they prefer. 

On my aunt's 99th birthday, she wanted a hot pink/fuschia cake. Everyone is different.

A

I was thinking about food colouring and what was available in the uk when I was a child. Even as a teenager we did not have the colour concentrates that are available now. My grandmother had a thing about not eating anything red because she would not eat Beetles.

Why in the world would you not ask them what colors they want.  You customer will choose which colors they prefer so you don't have to guess.

Yep, I'm in the "Why don't you just ask them?" camp, asking your client what colours they want on their cake is one the basic questions you need to ask in order to make the cake.