Icing and Frosting
What's the difference between frosting and icing? So far, I've found web sites that just say they're the same thing and I've asked a few people at work what they think and I've been getting a lot of "icing is shiny (piped on) and frosting is thicker and is spread on"
What do you all think?
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10 Comments:
I've always held that "icing" is thinner and drizzled on something...usually a thin confectioner's sugar/milk/vanilla/lemon juice sort of thing...and put on a warm cake so some of it sort of sinks in and moistens the cake a bit...
whereas "frosting" is generally thicker, made with butter, and spread onto a cooled cake.
juliebugsmama at 11:56AM on 10/01/08
I'd agree with that, that icing would be more like a glaze and frosting would be something thicker you'd use to "frost" a cake.
But I think for the general public they are pretty much the interchangable. I mean, there is "royal icing," which is somewhere between our definition. And some people "ice" a cake with "frosting," so heck I dunno.
Let's call the whole thing off!
Laurel E at 12:10PM on 10/01/08
Interchangeable where I live. Possibly there are regional preferences?
PerkyMac at 12:12PM on 10/01/08
I believe it is dependent upon both region and what your family has always said. Icing and frosting are the same thing. As are pop and soda. It means the same thing, just different names.
DCraver at 12:24PM on 10/01/08
The drizzle-on is often called a glaze. But I think, like dressing and stuffing, it's a regional thing. It's interchangeable in all of Missouri that I'm familiar with.
lemons at 1:14PM on 10/01/08
In England, if I recall properly, the term 'frosting' is almost unheard of, I think some girls said that they liked the unique fluffy quality of American-style frosting, although I do recall seeing birthday cakes covered with what looked like frosting there--I think the mouth feel though is smoother.
I don't think it is regional, actually--frosting is fluffy and/or dense, like carrot cake or birthday cake frosting, or light chocolate frosting. Icing is creamier and more like what is a ganache, like on eclairs or some chocolate cakes.
HeartofGlass at 1:15PM on 10/01/08
It may not have begun as a regional difference but it has morphed into one. I think of fluffy stuff on layer cakes and glaze on cinnamon rolls as icing. I can't think of the last time I said "frosting" unless I was quoting someone's recipe and that's what they called it.
therealchiffonade at 3:24PM on 10/01/08
When I worked in a bakery it was either buttercream or glaze, so how's that for differences?
eatingoutwest at 5:37PM on 10/01/08
Icing and frosting are the same thing. What you do with them is up to you.
I have put on one cake icing, frosting and a drizzled ganache.
JerzeeTomato at 1:58AM on 10/02/08
I always thought "icing" was the verb and "frosting" the noun - (I iced the cake with chocolate frosting.)
Josdean at 11:12PM on 10/03/08