The colour blue

I once rescued a christening cake from the cliff of kitsch when the baker (bless her soul) decided to smear the whole thing with bright-blue icing. It was for a baby boy, but still. Weʼre long past colour-coding for kids and no child deserves to be photographed with blue cheeks on their dedication day. And boy, did it stain; my hands and fingernails took on a translucent blue hue as I peeled back layers of fake blue icing. When the cake was finally saved, my hands looked frostbitten and bruised.

The colour blue is rare in food, which makes it an interesting choice for artificial colouring. Thereʼs no actual