What Are The Different Types Of Frosting

Let’s be honest: cake is just a delivery vehicle for frosting. Without that glorious, sugary blanket, you’re basically eating a sad, dry sponge. So, let’s dive into the frosted trenches and meet the creamy cast of characters that make birthdays worth attending.

The Almighty Buttercream

This is the workhorse of the frosting world, the reliable friend who shows up to every party. You’ll find it on 90% of grocery store cakes, and for good reason: it’s basically butter and sugar having a delicious fistfight.

American Buttercream is the easiest to make—just beat butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla until your arm falls off. It’s sweet enough to make your dentist weep, but it pipes like a dream. Pro tip: add a pinch of salt to stop your taste buds from filing a complaint.

Then there’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which is buttercream that went to finishing school. You have to heat egg whites and sugar like a chemist before adding butter. The result? A frosting so silky and less sweet that people will assume you bought the cake from a boutique. Surprising fact: this buttercream was actually invented to use up leftover egg whites—because 18th-century Swiss bakers hated waste almost as much as they loved butter.

The Royal Icings: Classy and Slightly Terrifying

Royal Icing is the lace dress of frosting—beautiful, delicate, and capable of holding a grudge. It’s made from egg whites and powdered sugar, and it dries harder than a physics exam. This is the stuff you see on gingerbread houses that look too perfect to eat.

Fun fact: royal icing was originally used to glue cakes together before modern cake stands existed. It’s also surprisingly strong—I once saw a gingerbread shed survive a light drizzle. You can’t taste it without risking a tooth, but it makes cookies that look like Renaissance art.

Ganache: The Chocolate Lover’s Therapy

Ganache is what happens when chocolate and cream decide to get married in a hot tub. It’s just two ingredients, but the magic is real. Pour it over a cake while it’s warm for a glossy mirror finish, or let it cool and whip it into a fluffy, sinful mousse.

Here’s a shocking truth: white chocolate ganache is technically not chocolate (white chocolate is mostly cocoa butter and sugar). But don’t let that stop you. A dark chocolate ganache is basically legalized happiness. One bite, and you’ll understand why the French call it “le glacent de dieu.” (I just made that up, but it should be true.)

Cream Cheese Frosting: The Sassy Cousin

This is the frosting that tangoes with carrot cake and red velvet. It’s buttercream’s slightly tart, more sophisticated sibling who drinks espresso and owns a leather jacket. The key is using full-fat cream cheese—low-fat versions weep like a sad movie.

Did you know that cream cheese frosting was a happy accident? In 1872, a dairyman in New York accidentally curdled cream while trying to make Neufchâtel. He named it “cream cheese,” and a century later, someone decided to mix it with sugar. That person deserves a statue.

Whipped Cream: The Lightweight Champion

Whipped cream frosting is the cloud you want to sleep on. It’s airy, barely sweet, and melts on your tongue like a secret. But beware: it hates heat and humidity more than a vampire hates garlic. A slice of whipped cream cake in July is a race against time.

Pro tip: stabilize it with gelatin or powdered sugar, or your beautiful cake will slide onto the floor mid-slice. I’ve seen it happen. There were tears. But when done right, it’s the only frosting that makes you feel virtuous for eating dessert.

The Modern Darling: Ermine (a.k.a. Flour Frosting)

If you’ve never heard of ermine frosting, you’re not alone. It’s an old-fashioned frosting made by cooking flour and milk into a pudding, then beating it with butter. Yes, flour. It sounds like a mistake, but it creates a silky, not-too-sweet frosting that tastes like a hug from your grandma.

Fun fact: this was the original “Red Velvet Cake” frosting before cream cheese stole the spotlight. It’s also weirdly stable. I once left an ermine-frosted cake out overnight, and it looked exactly the same the next morning. It was unfazed. That’s the kind of loyalty you want in a frosting.

Fondant: The Edible Art Supply

Let’s talk about the elephant in the bakery. Fondant is a sugar paste rolled into sheets that look like Play-Doh for adults. It’s great for making sculpted cakes that look like spaceships or handbags. But taste-wise? It’s basically sweet wallpaper paste.

Most people peel it off and eat the cake underneath—don’t pretend you don’t. But modern “marshmallow fondant” is actually edible, so if you must, demand that. And remember: fondant is why wedding cakes cost $800 and last three bites before someone says “Does anyone want more fondant?” (Nobody ever does.)

So there you have it: the frosting family tree. Whether you’re a buttercream traditionalist, a ganache hedonist, or a whipped cream daredevil, just know that every frosting is a vessel for joy. Now go forth, bake something, and slather it with the good stuff. Your dentist will forgive you. Eventually.