Icing
Icing, as related to the event planning industry, is a thick edible crème or glaze made from a recipe of sugar, butter, eggs, water, milk and other ingredients. Icing is typically used to decorate and fully or partially cover baked goods such as cakes, cookies, donuts and cupcakes. Ingredients such as sour cream and cream cheese can also be used to make icing. Icing is a staple on cakes and can be used to create decorations such as flowers or other items with the use of a pastry bag. Icing can be pre-made and bought from a grocery store or it can be made from scratch. Either way, the icing is then collected on some type of spreading utensil and applied to the dessert in even strokes. Icing can be found or made in any variety of color with the use of food coloring. Icing can be made in a variety of flavors such as:
- Chocolate
- Lemon
- Vanilla
- Butter cream
- Key Lime
Icing can be applied to cover the entire baked good or it can be applied in between layers of a cake to hold it together. Icing is typically very sweet and can be sticky because of the large amount of sugar used. Icing aids in the decoration of a baked good and can fully or partially cover the baked good. Icing aids in the process of cake decoration as most of the designs and other items such as miniature statues and numbers stay in place due to the texture of the icing. Icing can also be used to write messages on cakes, cookies or cupcakes such as “congratulations or happy birthday.” Icing is very pliable and will harden if left to open air for a long amount of time. It is a nice complement to a cake, in fact, without icing a cake can appear to be incomplete. Fondant is a popular type of icing used on wedding cakes to create the smooth texture that can become so popular. Cream cheese icing is a type of icing that is typically found on carrot cake.
