Frosting is the sweet, creamy coating spread on top of cakes, cupcakes, and other baked goods. It's made by whipping together ingredients like butter, sugar, and flavorings until they become smooth and spreadable. When you blow out birthday candles, you're usually looking down at a layer of frosting.

Bakers use frosting to make desserts look beautiful and taste even better. You can pipe it into decorative swirls with a pastry bag, spread it smooth with a knife, or create elaborate designs with different colors. Chocolate frosting, vanilla buttercream, cream cheese frosting: each type has its own flavor and texture.

The word also describes the thin layer of ice crystals that forms on cold surfaces. When you open the freezer and see white, feathery ice covering the walls, that's frosting. Car windows get a layer of frosting on cold winter mornings, which is why people scrape their windshields before driving.

Some people use frosting and icing interchangeably, though bakers often distinguish between them: frosting tends to be thicker and fluffier (often made with butter), while icing is thinner and hardens as it dries (made with powdered sugar and liquid).