There are many different varieties of icing and frosting, which can lead to confusion when deciding which one is best for your cake recipe. To help clear up any confusion, we’ve put together a quick guide on the different types of icing and what’s best for your recipe.

1. Buttercream

Buttercream is made with icing sugar and butter and can be flavoured with chocolate, lemon zest, orange, or any flavour you desire. Buttercream is a brilliant choice for crumb coats and for delicious cake fillings. If you use icing powder instead of sugar to create the buttercream, you can help create a less gritty consistency.

2. Frosting

This is what you traditionally use to pipe swirls on top of cakes or cupcakes. If you try using buttercream, you often find that the swirls fail to hold their shape. The frosting has similar qualities to buttercream, but it has an additional benefit of a dried egg white which adds stability to the frosting. This allows your swirls to hold their shape.

3. Meringue

This is typically an American-style frosting that is created from caster sugar, egg whites, and water. You whip it then spread it with a palette knife onto a cake or dessert to create an icing that looks (and is) edible. It always looks striking when decorated with fresh flowers, so is often a popular choice when making statement cakes.

4. Ganache

Ganache is made with double chocolate and Belgian chocolate. It’s both rich and filling and creates a delicious shiny chocolate finish on cakes and cupcakes. You can even whisk ganache to create an alternative to buttercream to fill and coat crumb cakes. A chocolate lover’s dream.

If you’re interested in learning more about different types of icings and cake making techniques, then why not de-mystify the art of baking with one of our cake decorating classes at Pearl’s Creations. Get creative today!