Icing (food)

This cake has an icing made with chocolate and sour cream.

Icing in a bowl before being spread on a cake.

Cupcakes decorated by children using a butter cream icing

Icing, also called frosting in the United States, is a sweet often creamy glaze made of sugar with a liquid such as water or milk, that is often enriched with ingredients such as butter, egg whites, cream cheese, or flavorings and is used to cover or decorate baked goods, such as cakes or cookies. Elizabeth Raffald documented the first recipe for icing in 1769 in the Experienced English Housekeeper, according to the Food Timeline. However, it was not until the 1915 that Mrs. Fred W. Gurney created the first buttercream recipe, and Fannie Farmer followed suit with several more recipes in 1918 and 1923.^[1]

Icing can be formed into shapes such as flowers and leaves using a pastry bag. Such decorations commonly grace birthday and wedding cakes. Chef's color dye (food coloring) is commonly added to icing mixtures to achieve the desired color. Sprinkles, coloring mist, edible images or other decorations are often used on top of icing.

The simplest icing is a glacé icing, containing icing sugar and water. This can be flavored and colored as desired, for example by using lemon juice in place of the water. More complicated icings can be made by beating fat into icing sugar (as in butter cream), by melting fat and sugar together, by using egg whites (as in royal icing), and by adding other ingredients such as glycerin (as in fondant). Some icings can be made from combinations of sugar and cream cheese or sour cream, or by using ground almonds (as in marzipan).

Icing can be applied with a utensil such as a knife or spatula, or it can be applied by drizzling or dipping (see glaze) or by rolling the icing out and draping it over the cake. The method of application largely depends on the type and texture of icing being used. Icing may be used between layers in a cake as a filling, or it may be used to completely or partially cover the outside of a cake or other baked product.

See also

• Royal icing
• Fondant
• Butter cream
• Ganache
• Marzipan
• Cake decorating
• Couverture chocolate

References

1. ^ Who invented frosting? | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.co.uk/q_view/2072478#ixzz13WaIRSGn