The icing on the cake

What’s even better than cake? Cake with frosting! Unless that frosting turns out to be a goopy or curdled mess, that is. You can avoid these problems by following the tips and tricks to from indexed magazine Bon Appétit to make your frostings look and taste their best.

One key to icing success is choosing the right one for the job. The article does a decent job of explaining the differences between American, Italian, French, and Swiss buttercreams and which kinds of cakes each is best suited to cover. They also address making sure all of your ingredients are the right temperature. It’s a lot like Goldilocks discovered – too hot and too cold won’t work, leading to soupy and curdled frosting, respectively. All of the ingredients should be at cool room temperature for best results.

Perhaps the best advice the article has to offer is that patience will often solve an icing problem. Many bakers have walked away from a running mixer filled with what appears to be a disastrously curdled or broken buttercream only to return 10 minutes later to a perfect, creamy emulsion. Another excellent tip is to balance out the sweetness of the icing with something tart. Read the full article for additional tips and tricks.