I am needed to make royal icing that is a cobalt blue. I have a color swatch to go off of, doesn't have to be perfect but of course I want to get as close as I can. Is there any way to practice getting the right color w/o having to make a batch of icing? I use the Wilton colors that are like a gel consistancy and I never even know how much I am supposed to even add, I have only done one cake that didn't have white/ivory colored icing. So, please... any tips would be appreciated!

I like working with the gel colors because no matter how much of it you add it won't affect the consistency of your icing. I usually use a tooth pick and add blobs at a time to the icing until I get the color I want. Once you get comfortable you will be able to eyeball it. Primary colors in wilton's gel colors are sort of "fluorescent" so I add a big blob of it.

I am not sure what colors you want to achieve. Sometimes I like mixing colors to lighten or darken the color I want to achieve. If I need a darker green than the wilton gel color kit had, so I added some green and a little bit of blue at a time until I reached the color I wanted. If you want lighter, add yellow. Just follow the spectrum (rainbow).


Lighter <-------------------------------> Darker
Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet

If you want darler orange, add more red.

I hope this helps!!

I always start with less color,than you think you'll need, than build up to the color I'm looking for. It takes a little longer this way but always turns out right.

Not sure your idea of "colbalt" and mine are the same thing.....but I'm picturing the color of my car which is called cobalt, hehe. I've made that color before, it's like a bright but dark deep blue?? Anyway, I used the royal blue, a teensy bit of black and a little sky blue all mixed together. Try doing just a tiny bit first and if it's the color you like you can always make more. Good luck!

i would mix it and let it sit covered with a damp towel for about 1 hour. with the darker colors, they tend to develop a little darker. i've made cobalt blue royal icing and it took a lot of royal blue coloring.

I'm still having trouble with this. It sounds like we all have the same idea for cobalt blue. I tried adding black w/ my royal blue but it made it look too smokey. So, I added more of the royal blue after it had a chance to sit over night. Still not dark enough. I went and got AmericColor royal blue and added it w/ royal blue(wilton) to some extra white RI I had and that got closer, not exact but I did get much closer, I'm going to let it sit a while and see if it darkens up. I feel a cold coming on so even typing this makes my body ache -and I need these drop flowers for a cake I'll start tomorrow -Oh Lord Help Me!

Try adding some sky/light blue, that always seems to brighten my up and take away that "smokey" color