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What is the difference

between icing and frosting?
Info, Cooking-and baking tips, and Basic recipe

There is icing and frosting to decorate cake, cupcakes and biscuits but when you have not been baking that long, it can be confusing. The names are used at random, both in the UK and US. They call it icing and frosting, but often they mean the same thing. In recipes, the words icing (a glaze) and frosting (butter cream) are often also used interchangeably, which gives an amateur baker the idea that it must be the same thing, but that is not correct.

There is indeed an important difference: icing is based on sugar while frosting is based on butter. Which of course does not mean thet in recipes icing has mostly sugar in it and frosting mostly butter, oh no, that would be to simple! While icing is always mostly sugar and although frosting has a lot of sugar in it, it also a good amount of butter is incorporated.

But when and for what do you use what?

Icing 01
Icing 02
Icing 03

Icing (or Royal Icing) is almost always used on biscuitss, but it is also very tasty and it also looks really pretty on cake or cupcakes!

Frosting (Butter cream)

Frosting 01
Frosting 02
Frosting is sometimes used as a cake filler between layers or it is spread or piped on cakes, to decorate. Sometimes the confectioner pipes buttercream (frosting) on small biscuits as petit four or in small chocolate cups, then they are called Mignon Suisse, but frosting is most often used on cupcakes.
Hopefully there is some clarity now but do you still have questions email us and we will do our utmost to have an answer for you quickly!