Easy White Icing for Cupcakes and Other Treats

Use our white icing recipe to make a fluffy, white topping for all kinds of treats. It looks impressive, but is incredibly easy to make. All you need are three ingredients and a few minutes to whip it up. After mixing unsalted softened butter with confectioners' sugar and a dash of whole milk, this icing is ready to decorate cakes and cupcakes. You can use a stand mixer, a hand mixer, or mix it by hand. It’s a versatile frosting you'll use to dress up your favorite baked goods.

Icing vs. Frosting

There are a lot of opinions about whether your dessert topping is frosting or icing, and to add to the confusion, the terms are used differently in different places. Both are used to decorate cakes, both are made with lots of sugar, usually confectioners’ sugar. In broad terms, icing is simpler and frosting more complex. Frosting often contains egg whites for a fluffy more stable texture, whereas icing is simple to make with butter, sugar, and liquid. Our easy white icing is a fairly thick icing and requires spreading, though some icings are thinner and pourable.