What are Some Different Kinds of Frosting I Can Make?
There are many types of frosting which can be used to decorate cakes and cupcakes. Some recipes include recommendations for a particular type of frosting which goes well with that cake. Others leave the frosting up to the imagination of the baker. In addition to frosting a cake, you can also decorate the frosting with piped shapes such as lines, flowers, and other fanciful decorations. Frosting can also be dyed to be multicolored, or dressed up with additions like preserves, shredded coconut, and nuts.
One of the most rapid and delicious types of frosting is a quick buttercream. Buttercream frosting is made with butter, confectioner's sugar, and a flavoring. Vanilla buttercream frosting is a perennial favorite, but you can also make chocolate, mocha, almond, or anything else you can think of. Simply beat butter and powdered sugar together along with a small amount of flavoring to moisten, and spread the buttercream frosting onto the cake once it has cooled.
A rich variant on buttercream frosting is cream cheese frosting, which is made by mixing cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and a flavoring. Cream cheese frosting is much more dense and creamy than buttercream, and it does need to be refrigerated. It is also not a good choice for rich cakes, because the frosting and the cake combined can be too intense for some consumers. Try using flavors like lavender, orange, or chocolate with cream cheese frosting.
More complicated frostings involve cooking. There are many boiled icing recipes which include ingredients such as sugar, milk, eggs, flavoring, and boiling water. You will use different ingredients depending on the recipe you are using, but all boiled frosting does require a more attentive eye. You want to cook the frosting until it thickens, but not until it starts to harden or separate. Boiled icings can be thick, like those made with egg whites, or light and runny, like a ganache glaze. Simple boiled glazes are excellent for dense, rich cakes because they offset the flavor of the cake, and can even be made slightly bitter for even more contrast. Thicker boiled icing is a dense and more sophisticated frosting.
Many professional cake decorators use fondant for their cakes. Fondant is also known as rolled icing, and it is made by boiling sugar and water together to create a paste which can be rolled out. Fondant is lacking in flavor and favorable texture, but it is highly flexible and it is a superb frosting for fancifully decorated cakes. It holds shape well, even in extreme conditions, and it can be cut into fanciful shapes.
Written by S.E. Smith
