There's nothing that can transform a cake from just OK to practically heavenly like a swoop, swirl or generous dollop of sweet, creamy frosting. Here are 10 you need to know.
SALLY'S BAKING ADDICTION
It's impossible to mess up – just combine butter, confectioner's sugar, cream, salt and your desired flavoring, then frost away.
american buttercream
1
GRANDBABY CAKES
Made by heating egg whites & granulated sugar, whipping the mixture to stiff peaks & slowly adding butter. It's extremely stable & easy to pipe.
SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
2
CUPCAKE PROJECT
Italian meringue involves pouring hot sugar syrup into egg whites & whipping the mixture to fluffy peaks to make an extremely smooth & stable frosting.
ITALIAN MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
3
SUGAR SALT MAGIC
Made by combining pastry cream (an egg-based custard containing milk & starch) with butter for a light and rich frosting.
GERMAN BUTTERCREAM
4
BOSTON GIRL BAKES
Unlike Swiss & Italian buttercream, French buttercream contains egg yolks for richness. It's very soft, so it's better for filling than for piping.
FRENCH BUTTERCREAM
5
MATT DUTILE/ERIN MCDOWELL
Similar to American buttercream but with some of the butter swapped out for cream cheese, it's relatively sweet but with a bit of tang.
cream cheese frosting
6
SALLY'S BAKING ADDICTION
Falling somewhere between frosting, glaze and icing, ganache is a chocolate-based sauce made by stirring chocolate with warm cream.
GANACHE
7
AMY NEUNSINGER/MAGNOLIA KITCHEN, VOLUME 2
Royal icing is a hard white icing made from softly beaten egg whites & powdered sugar. It's bright white & takes food coloring beautifully.
ROYAL ICING
8
PHOTO/STYLING: KATHERINE GILLEN
When you want to dress up a batch of sugar cookies, a simple glaze of confectioner's sugar and water (or milk) will get the job done.
SIMPLE GLAZE
9
RECIPETIN EATS
This pourable glaze is made of melted chocolate, gelatin and sweetened condensed milk, along with flavorings and food coloring for pizazz.