Icing vs Frosting

[ElfWorks]

do you consider the two words interchangeable or does one mean something different? this q was posed on another bb i hang out at, and now its driving me crazy. in my head, frosting is thicker and fluffier than icing.

opinions or hard facts are both welcome!

xo

[McDuff]

I'm sure there will be some disagreements, but in Basic Cake class at J&W, we were taught to refer to the covering of a cake as "icing," frosting being what Joe and Suzy Homemaker use to cover their cakes. I don't know that there is a difference other than the semantic one.

[Wendy DeBord]

I use the two words interchangably. I've never seen a written defination decribing them as two different things.......or anyone using the words to mean different things.

I could put forth an argument why I might want to name something an icing and not a frosting...........but to me thats splitting hairs over something I don't think you could find documents to support.

[Tracy K.]

According to Webster, the two terms are interchangable. However, please keep in mind the true definition of icing:

An infraction called when a player shoots the puck from his side of the red line across the opponent's goal line. Play is stopped when an opponent (other than the goalie) touches the puck. The face off is held in the offending team's end of the ice. A team that is short handed can ice the puck without being penalized.

I don't think that frosting will get you time in the penalty box....

[ElfWorks]

According to Webster, the two terms are interchangable. However, please keep in mind the true definition of icing:

An infraction called when a player shoots the puck from his side of the red line across the opponent's goal line. Play is stopped when an opponent (other than the goalie) touches the puck. The face off is held in the offending team's end of the ice. A team that is short handed can ice the puck without being penalized.

I don't think that frosting will get you time in the penalty box....

tracy, thanks for the info. as a native texan, THAT would have never occurred to me!!!!

ROFLMPO!

xo

[Redsugar]

Carole Bloom (Int’l Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, & Confections) maintains that the terms ‘icing’ and ‘frosting’ are safely interchangeable. Laura Mason, author of Sugar Plums and Sherbet, agrees w/ Bloom’s linguistic assessment: “In N. America, the term ‘frosting’ has a slightly longer history than ‘icing,’ but the two terms became interchangeable and ‘icing’ has now become the preferred usage.”

Nevertheless, I am conditioned to a certain extent culturally to think that the names of some of these preparations are rather staunchly less flexible: For example, we say ‘Royal Icing’ but rarely, if ever, do we say ‘Royal Frosting.’ We invariably refer to ‘Fondant Icing’ as such, not as ‘Fondant Frosting.’ Also, I do not recollect having heard anyone say ‘Penuche Icing.’ It’s always ‘Penuche Frosting.’ Wouldn’t most of us say ‘Boiled Frosting’ instead of ‘Boiled Icing.’ The latter just doesn’t seem to ring as true. Am I too closeted to know otherwise? All in all, though, I very much doubt that there’s any lasting benefit in labouring over this curious, but ultimately small-fry, issue of semantics.

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”

~ Harriet van Horne

[mckayinutah]

I'm sure there will be some disagreements, but in Basic Cake class at J&W, we were taught to refer to the covering of a cake as "icing," frosting being what Joe and Suzy Homemaker use to cover their cakes. I don't know that there is a difference other than the semantic one.

McDuff and I must have had the same instructor at J&W - we were told not to use the " F " word - frosting - when I was there , back in the early 1990's

Jason

[McDuff]

Bob Pekar, Bob Zielinski, or Martha Crawford?

[artisanbaker]

frosting is for homemakers...

(ducks for cover)

[mckayinutah]

Bob Pekar, Bob Zielinski, or Martha Crawford?

They must tell all the instructors to tell their students not to use the 'F" word - I had Chef Allen, not mentioned by McDuff. The only one mentioned that was there when I attended was Pekar.

Jason