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Dulux has just unveiled the Colour of the Year for 2018 and it couldn’t be more swoon-worthy! Also dubbed grown-up pink, you’ll be seeing Pictured Rocks everywhere in the coming year – from décor to fashion and of course, that means it’s going to be all over cakes too! The folks over at Dulux challenged me to create a cake inspired by the Colour of the Year and the Comforting Home Palette and boy, did I have fun!

Because store-bought sprinkles come in boring colours, I thought I’d show you how you can make your own – that way, you can make them in the Colour of the Year – or any other colour for that matter. Your cakes and bakes will be on-trend, and best of all, stand out from the crowd!

Making your own DIY sprinkles is as easy as whipping up a batch of royal icing, colouring it and then piping it in strips (however thick you like) on a lined baking tray. Allow them to dry at room temperature and then break them up – easy!

I made mine in the Colour of the Year (Pictured Rocks) and a dusty pink to compliment the colour scheme of my cake.

To mix the Pictured Rocks frosting, I used equal amounts of light purple powder colouring and tulip pink, and then added a touch of navy blue and a touch of black. Matching the frosting to the Dulux colour was actually easier than I thought it would be – give it a try, you’ll be surprised!

The Colour of the Year represents the warmth of natural wood and goes perfectly with shades of chocolate, coffee, toffee, vanilla frosting, and spices – warm comforting colours that look so decadent you just want to eat them!

I used a vanilla frosting as a base and tinted it in a variety of shades that go well with the grown-up pink. Then I had fun ‘painting’ the cake using an oil-painting effect with the frostings. Dab and smear blobs of different coloured frosting all along the side of the cake.

To give it wow-factor I topped it off with a big white chocolate sail (tinted with powder colouring), some white chocolate geometric shapes and of course, macarons to finish it off.

This cake was a ridiculous amount of fun and the one thing I realized was that I’ll be taking more colour inspiration from paint palettes in the future!

HOMEMADE SPRINKLES

Makes 2 cups of sprinkles

Royal icing

1 egg white, beaten

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

squeeze of lemon juice

To make the royal icing, whisk the egg white gently then add the icing sugar until a stiff paste forms. Add the lemon juice and stir. To make your own sprinkles, fill a piping bag fitted with small plain nozzle with coloured royal icing and pipe long strips of royal icing onto a piece of baking paper and allow to dry overnight or in a low oven (60 degrees). Once dry, break them up and mix the colours together. Store in an airtight jar.

WHITE CHOCOLATE SAIL DECORATIONS

2 x A4 plastic acetate sheets (also known as transparency sheets – available from stationery shops)

500g white couverture chocolate, tempered OR good-quality white baking chocolate, melted

powder food colouring of your choice

Arrange two rolling pins or cylindrical objects on a countertop (these are going to be used to give the sails their wavy shapes). Place the acetate sheets on a clean counter. Colour the chocolate with the food colouring. Spread the white chocolate thinly over the sheets using a palette knife. Arrange the chocolate-coated sheet over the rolling pins or objects and leave them to set. Peel off the acetate and they’re now ready to be be used on the cake.