How to Make Tan Royal Icing
Most icing colors are pretty easy to figure out, while others are a little more complicated.
Tan icing might seem simple, but if you’ve ever added warm brown to uncolored icing with the expectation of a pretty yellowish-brown, you know this isn’t the case. The pinky, almost flesh-colored result isn’t even close.
Unfortunately, icing color is not an exact science. Most of the time, my colors aren’t mixed from a pre-existing formula. I start with tried and true combinations, then play with them until they’re right.
Rather than come up with the perfect tan, I thought I’d walk you through a day in life of an icing color. Hopefully, with a few practical tips you’ll have the confidence to play with color and come up with palettes that are uniquely you.
My version of tan icing is basically a mixture of yellow and purple. Yes, I said purple. Hard to believe at first, but bear with me and I’ll show you what I mean.
I start with yellow. Except instead of straight yellow, I mixed a few colors to create a golden yellow shade, based on the palette I had in mind.
The result was a very light shade of butter yellow, which was way too light, but good…because it’s a lot easier to add more color than take it away if you go overboard on the first squeeze.
I liked the way things were going so I added more of the same colors, in equal amounts. Then I did it again…and again.
When I reached a point where I felt the base was dark enough to move on, I broke out the regal purple, which in my opinion is the key to tan.
Be careful with the purple. Use a toothpick or a boo-boo stick to add it little by little, stirring in between each addition.
With each bit of regal purple I got a little closer to the color I had in mind. Then, I got impatient. I knew a huge drop of color would likely ruin my icing, so instead I added a blob of purple icing that was leftover from Halloween.
At this point, I was close but it was still missing something. I added a bit of dark brown for depth, and finally, I had it.
The perfect tan! For this project at least…
To successfully color icing time after time, keep these tips in mind:
- Start with tried and true color combinations {yellow+blue=green} and tweak them for completely custom shades
- You ever heard that saying, “There’s more than one way to skin a rabbit?” Well there is. There are SEVERAL ways to make tan icing {red+yellow+green, blue+orange, ect.} but in the interest of keeping this reasonably short, I didn’t cram them all into one post. If you prefer another combination, then definitely, DO YO THANG
- Add color SLOWLY even if it takes forever. It’s very hard to lighten a shade once you’ve gone overboard
- Use leftover icing rather than gel color when mixing for a more subtle change. This also means less waste
- Tone down any color with black, ivory, or a contrasting color
- Add a touch of each shade of icing to every color for a perfectly coordinated palette
Icing color gets easier with practice. For more helpful tips, check out these links: