There are many different frosting recipes, for different types of cakes.  There is an ornamental or twice cooked icing made with granulated sugar and egg whites, an uncooked icing using egg white and icing sugar, a butter icing, glace icing made with icing sugar and lemon juice or hot water and a ganache topping made of cream and chocolate.  There is also fondant icing that can be home-made or bought ready to roll.  Some cake makers colour and use fondant icing for modelling intricate scenes on your cakes.

There are some frostings which are more suitable for particular types of cake.  Royal icing is the usual icing for Christmas cakes, Weddings and Christenings.  It usually has an undercoat of almond paste and is a rich, thick, snow-white covering that can have a smooth or rough finish, as you like.  It can also be iced into swags and flowers using a piping bag for a more professional finish.  This icing usually requires a period of time to dry before finishing the piping decoration.  If you make cakes it is important to make them as decorative and attractive as possible and it is entirely possible to do this even when inexperienced.

Uncooked Royal Icing (for Christmas, Wedding and Christening cakes)

Makes one cup, increase quantities as needed

1 egg white

1 to 1 ¼ cups icing sugar

Tsp lemon juice

Beat the egg white until frothy.  Add in the finely sifted icing sugar one spoon at a time. Beating well before each addition until the mixture is stiff, white and glossy peaks.  Beat in the lemon juice.  Cover with an air-tight seal until ready to use.

Glace Icing with butter (for cup cakes or toppings for biscuits)

2 cups icing sugar

½ oz butter

2 tblsp hot water

 Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add enough hot water and softened butter to make a stiff paste.  Place bowl over a pan of water on a low heat until paste can be easily spread.  Add 1tsp cocoa powder for chocolate flavour and omit the butter but use a tblsp of lemon curd and a drop or two of lemon juice for lemon flavoured icing.

Dark Chocolate Ganache topping (for rich dessert chocolate cakes or as a tea-time treat)

7oz good quality dark chocolate

1 cup of heavy cream

Bring the cream to the boil, remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stir until completely smooth.  Refrigerate cake before serving.

Twice cooked Frosting (for heavy madeira sponge cakes or fruit cakes)

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup water

2 egg whites

½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp flavouring

Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Boil sugar and water without stirring until syrup reaches 238F or forms a thin hair like thread when dropped from a teaspoon.  Pour in a thin steady stream over the beaten egg whites beating all the time.  Add one teaspoon of flavouring and ½ teaspoon baking powder.  Beat until stiff enough to pile up on the cake and ice smooth with a spatula.

Butter Icing (for family tea-time cakes)

½ cup butter

3 cups icing sugar

White of egg

Flavouring

Cream (if necessary)

Put the butter into a bowl and cream thoroughly, add the egg white, the flavouring and then, gradually, the sifted icing sugar, beat well until soft and fluffy.  Add a few drops of hot cream if necessary to make the consistency right for spreading.

Chocolate fudge frosting (birthday cakes and family treats)

3oz butter

⅓ cup water

½ cup caster sugar

1 ½ cups icing sugar

⅓ cup cocoa powder

Place the butter, sugar and water into a small saucepan and set over a gentle heat stirring continuously until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.  Finely sift the cocoa powder and the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the hot chocolate butter mixture.  Cover and put in the fridge until it thickens.  Remove from the fridge and beat with a wooden spoon until spreadable.

Cream cheese frosting (a dinner party dessert cake or Sunday lunch)

4oz soft unflavoured cream cheese (light cheese may also be used as a healthy alternative).

3oz butter or low-fat spread

½ cup icing sugar

1 tsp lemon/orange juice

Finely grated zest of one lemon or orange

Beat cream cheese and butter in a small bowl with an electric mixer until soft and light, gradually add in the icing sugar, juice and grated zest and beat until smooth and spreadable

Icing, frosting and toppings can be made with a wide variety of different ingredients, as can be seen in the above recipes.  There are many more ideas than I have already mentioned, mascarpone cheese, sour cream, coconut cream, melted chocolate, meringue toppings all can be used to great effect on cakes for the family or cakes for celebrations