Tonight’s dinner ended with dessert and tea. That is not the interesting part (or even intersting to begin with - this is just the segue). While we were enjoying the chocolate cake, my brother in-law raised a quite perplexing question: what is the difference between icing and frosting? None of us had the answer. The closest that we came had nothing to do with the difference, but a similarity. This being that both labels are cold related. So what is the answer? If seems that there may not be conclusive opinion out there in the there. The best answer, though, that I found came from this Christmas cookies site:

There is a big difference between frosting and icing. Frosting is thick and holds shapes like rosettes and shells like those you see piped around the edges of a birthday cake. It remains soft to the touch and has a creamy texture, and most people think it tastes better because of the creamy buttery flavor. Icing, on the other hand, is a thinner, more liquid substance, and as it dries it thins out, becomes very smooth across the surface of your cookie, and hardens. This is the icing to use for the most beautiful, professional results.

So there we have it. There is a difference between the two.