Week 9 -- Frosting (Lecture)

This week in class we talked about frosting. One thing that I didn't know about frosting is that there are so many different types of frosting. There are seven types of frosting:

• Buttercream
• Foam
• Fudge
• Fondant
• Glaze
• Royal Icing
• Ganache

Buttercream is buttery, light and fluffy frosting. It is made with a mixture of sugar and fat. I also learned this week that there are three types of buttercream: simple, Italian, and French. I'm used to making simple buttercream. Italian buttercream is basically an Italian meringue with butter mixed in. French butter cream is an egg yolk foam and butter, mixed with an Italian meringue.

Foam frosting is basically an Italian meringue. It is a type of frosting that does not keep and should be used immediately.

Fudge frosting, according to our book, can be vanilla or chocolate. Just by the name, I would've assumed that fudge is a type of chocolate frosting. It is a warmed mixture of sugar, butter, and water or milk. You frost a cake with this while the frosting is still warm. Then it develops a bit of a skin.

Fondant is a thick sugar paste. It isn't a frosting you spread, it is rolled out and placed on a cake. There is also poured fondant, which is used for petit fours.

A glaze is a thin coating that you pour or drizzle on cake or pastries. It is used on items that don't need or can't handle a thick coating of frosting.

Royal icing is a type of frosting that you'll see a lot on sugar cookies. It is a stiff frosting and becomes hard and brittle when it dries. It is a mixture of powdered sugar and pasteurized egg whites.

Ganache is a mixture of chocolate and cream. Ganache can be thick or thin, it just depends on the amount of cream that is added. Ganache is used as the base for truffles.

We also talked about assembling and decorating cakes. To assemble a cake, first you level the cake. Then you fill and stack the layers. Next you apply a crumb coat of frosting and chill until it has hardened. The crumb coat seals loose surface crumbs. Then you apply an even coating of frosting to the top and sides of the cake. For the sides of the cake, you can use side masking (coat the sides with sprinkles, nuts, etc) or use a cake comb to make a pattern in the frosting. Last, you pipe pretty decorations on the cake. I can't wait to decorate my cake!