Q&A for How to Make Cake Icing

Butter is better for flavor, while shortening is better for resiliency. You can also use a combination of those two to get some kind of balance.

You can bake your cake before or after you make your icing. Typically, bakers will make frosting while their cake is in the oven or cooling. Just do whichever works best for you!

Yes, it's ideal that you use powdered sugar to make cake frosting. Using any other type of sugar won't give you the same results. The sweetness and dusty nature of powdered sugar is what gives buttercream its fluffy, smooth texture and delicious taste.

Yes, any type of milk will work.

It is a type of icing that is used for cakes. It is made from sugar, water, gelatin and glycerol.

It is necessary when making an American buttercream (or the other recipes listed). If you make a French, Italian, or German buttercream, you will not need icing sugar.

Make royal icing by adding two egg whites and icing sugar.

The more you beat it, the whiter it becomes.

Lucky for many of us, there is very little drawing skill required in cake decorating. First, ice your cake, using an online tutorial. Then put plain or colored frosting into a ziploc bag and snip off a small corner. Gently squeeze it out around the bottom of the cake in either a smooth line or small dollops made by squeezing without moving the bag. Do the same dollops around the perimeter on the top of the cake. Do it on the actual top, not along the side. Simple, yet beautiful.

Try adding about 4 drops of red food coloring into the icing.

Icing is a mixture of sugar with liquid or butter. Fondant is a thick paste made of sugar and water with gelatin in it. Fondant has a dough-like texture that can be rolled out into sheets. Icing is a fluffy or creamy texture.

Colored frosting is not white, and has been colored with dye.

Try adding more icing sugar. That should thicken it up. Add more until you reach your desired consistency.

For a simple buttercream, all you need to have is butter and icing (from confectioner's sugar). No heavy cream needed!

Add more powdered sugar slowly, a teaspoon at a time, and stir while the mixture thickens. This should give your icing a firmer consistency.

Trying adding an extra tablespoon of powdered sugar.

No. If you were to do so, you would end up with a sugar soup you can't fix.

You do not need to use vanilla extract. Substitute it with a smaller amount of almond extract or some other flavoring or just leave it out. Instead of cream cheese you can use equal parts of cottage cheese, drained, and blended with half-and-half or cream and a little butter or equal parts of ricotta cheese plus plain yogurt.

They're the same thing, powdered sugar is another name for icing sugar.

If you are desperate, you can try blending normal regular granulated sugar in the blender.

Yes, because regular granulated sugar is too grainy and will make for a grainy frosting that you can't remove. You can make powdered sugar by blending regular sugar until it's powdery.

Yes, it just takes a little extra work and strong forearms and shoulders to mix it by hand.

Add a little bit of blue food coloring. The more you add, the darker blue it becomes.

Make different batches of different colors, and then pipe the frosting on the cake in small streams.

Place a metal mixing bowl and metal whisk into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. Place the sugar into the mixing bowl and add the whipping cream. Whisk just until the cream reaches stiff peaks. Store any unused portion in an airtight container for up to 10 hours.

Lift the icing using a rolling pin or your hands; drape it over the top of the cake. Smooth the fondant using cake smoothers, pushing out any air bubbles and creases, starting on the top then working down the sides. Use a small knife to cut away the excess icing – don't cut too close to the cake.

Yes. 450 g sugar, 1 tablespoon glucose syrup, 1 tablespoon CMC, 1 egg white, 1 tablespoon of warm water to dissolve the glucose and CMC.

You can color it using food coloring or gel, which you can buy in a supermarket or grocery store.

It gives the icing a hint of flavor, but is not required. You can leave it out, or other types of extract will work just fine.

If you want to add color to your icing, just add a few drops of food coloring and stir.