Is It Frosting? Or Is It Icing?
1071
Food & Beverage > Cooking
Mar 1, 2007
Jim Bolding -
Is It Frosting? Or Is It Icing?
Home cooks most generally use the term frosting and icing interchangeably. This can cause confusion.
In order to reduce that confusion I like to make a distinction between the two on my website.
Frosting
Frosting is a fluffy, thick concoction that will hold its shape. You can pipe decorations with it like you see on cakes.
Even though it holds a shape it stays soft and keeps its creamy texture.
There are as many variations of frosting recipes, as there are cookie recipes. One of the most popular is butter cream.
Even within the butter cream category there is no one definitive recipe.
It seems that every country that can get its hands on butter has its opinion of what butter cream frosting should be. Some are made with eggs and butter. Some varieties you have to cook sugar to a softball stage.
There are others that use shortening or a combination of shortening and butter. Still others don't use butter or shortening at all but another substance such as peanut butter.
A simple butter cream is just butter, sugar, flavoring and a liquid beaten and beaten until it is light and fluffy. It can be flavored with most any flavoring and colored any color during the beating stage.
After beating, other ingredients such as dried fruit, nuts or melted chocolate can be folded in.
Icing
Icing is normally much thinner than frosting and in this state will not hold shapes. Because it's more liquid it flows easily and thins out filling in nooks and crannies.
What differentiates icing from frosting is that as icing dries it becomes smooth and will harden when completely dry. This makes it perfect glue for cookie construction projects, such as a gingerbread house.
For the cookie decorator that's not handy with a piping bag icing is the ideal cookie decorating medium.
Just like frosting there are hundreds and hundreds of icing recipes and recipe variations. An icing recipe can be as simple as powdered sugar mixed with a liquid to more complicated meringue varieties.
One of the better known meringue variations is Royal Icing. Depending on the amount of liquid used Royal Icing can be piped and will hold shapes like frosting but it will harden as it dries.
So is it icing? Or is it frosting?
In my humble opinion it boils down to one thing. If it stays soft (within reason) it's frosting. If, when it dries, it hardens then it's icing. Jim Bolding is a freelance writer and founder of the Cookie Recipe Club. www.cookie-recipe-club.com Read more about frosting and icing here: www.cookie-recipe-club.com/frosting-recipe.html
In order to reduce that confusion I like to make a distinction between the two on my website.
Frosting
Frosting is a fluffy, thick concoction that will hold its shape. You can pipe decorations with it like you see on cakes.
Even though it holds a shape it stays soft and keeps its creamy texture.
There are as many variations of frosting recipes, as there are cookie recipes. One of the most popular is butter cream.
Even within the butter cream category there is no one definitive recipe.
It seems that every country that can get its hands on butter has its opinion of what butter cream frosting should be. Some are made with eggs and butter. Some varieties you have to cook sugar to a softball stage.
There are others that use shortening or a combination of shortening and butter. Still others don't use butter or shortening at all but another substance such as peanut butter.
A simple butter cream is just butter, sugar, flavoring and a liquid beaten and beaten until it is light and fluffy. It can be flavored with most any flavoring and colored any color during the beating stage.
After beating, other ingredients such as dried fruit, nuts or melted chocolate can be folded in.
Icing
Icing is normally much thinner than frosting and in this state will not hold shapes. Because it's more liquid it flows easily and thins out filling in nooks and crannies.
What differentiates icing from frosting is that as icing dries it becomes smooth and will harden when completely dry. This makes it perfect glue for cookie construction projects, such as a gingerbread house.
For the cookie decorator that's not handy with a piping bag icing is the ideal cookie decorating medium.
Just like frosting there are hundreds and hundreds of icing recipes and recipe variations. An icing recipe can be as simple as powdered sugar mixed with a liquid to more complicated meringue varieties.
One of the better known meringue variations is Royal Icing. Depending on the amount of liquid used Royal Icing can be piped and will hold shapes like frosting but it will harden as it dries.
So is it icing? Or is it frosting?
In my humble opinion it boils down to one thing. If it stays soft (within reason) it's frosting. If, when it dries, it hardens then it's icing. Jim Bolding is a freelance writer and founder of the Cookie Recipe Club. www.cookie-recipe-club.com Read more about frosting and icing here: www.cookie-recipe-club.com/frosting-recipe.html
Write a Review
Add to My Favorite
Refer it to Friend
Report Article
Other links owned by this user
Home cooks most generally use the term frosting and icing interchangeably. This can cause confusion. In order to reduce that confusion I like to make a distinction between the two on my website. Frosting Frosting is
Category:
Other links at Food & Beverage > Cooking
Let me introduce to you one of my favourite recipes -- Szechwan chicken -- a sharp flavoured dish. It is chicken stir-fried and covered in a dark soy-based sauce with ginger and hot peppers. The meal is very beautiful when served, and even more
Category:
It's an excellent time f life fr baking yur favrite high-fiber ckies. It may seem like a gustatry cntradictin. Hw can a ckie taste delicius and be nutritinally high in dietary fiber? High fiber fds and high fiber diets have becme part
Category:
1. Purchase ribs that are evenly covered in meat. In other words, don't y a slab that is fatty on one end and fleshy on the other. Avoid slabs that have exposed bones! 2. Allow for one pound of ribs per guest. This is a generous helping
Category:
Beer butt is a fraternity classic whose absolutely wonderful flavour is complemented by a keg full of novelty. The flavour, as its name implies, is very beer-like, and can change depending on the brew you use. I strongly suggest that you try and
Category:
A baic kitchen need a election of pot and pan, ome baic gadget, and a collection of common pice and condiment. Pot and Pan: A minimum et include a mall frying pan, a one-quart aucepan with cover, a two-quart
Category:
Site Sponsor
Directory Statistics
Articles: 68200
Categories: 501
Yahoo Entertainment
