It’s easy to follow a recipe and bake a delicious cake. Icing it beautifully is the challenge.

Pastry chefs practice long and hard until they perfect an absolutely smooth icing. And they learn some tricks along the way.

You can use the holiday season to practice, practice, practice. The people upon whom you bestow your homemade cakes will be thrilled, not critical.

A rotating cake stand and an angled spatula will be your two best friends.

Here’s a video demonstration on how to ice a cake from Clarice Lam of The Baking Bean, an online pastry business that delivers delicious desserts straight to your door.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ICING & FROSTING

The difference between frosting and icing is in the sugar:

Icing is made with confectioners’ sugar (also called icing sugar), frosting is made with granulated sugar (table sugar). The two words are often used interchangeably, but that doesn’t make it correct!

More on how to frost a cake.

Find our favorite cakes and cake recipes in our Gourmet Cakes Section.