Can You Freeze Icing?

If there is one component of a cake that might be leftover after baking, it would be icing. Throwing out your leftover icing is not a great idea. Icing could be expensive, buttercream icing for example is a luxury. Storing your icing in the fridge might sound like a good idea. But it can go bad after a few days. So you may wonder if you can freeze it?

A freezer should be the baker’s best friend. Baking could be fun but very tiring. As it takes a lot of time and effort to bake. When the holiday season arrives, you have no time to waste. There would be schedules and deadlines you have to keep up with. As a baker, it wouldn’t hurt to have some things on hand and ready to use. For example, Icing.

So, can you freeze icing? Yes, you can freeze icing and it can be kept in your freezer for about 3 months before going bad. Do note that the consistency of your icing might change after thawing as water adds about an increase of 9-10% when frozen. However, you can fix this by mixing or by adding some fresh icing to the thawed icing.

You could have birthday cakes to bake at intervals of a few weeks or days. If you have icing leftover, you can freeze and keep it for your next cake or batch of cupcakes. You could save time by making icing in large quantities without dye and freeze for quick usage when you need to. This way you don’t need to worry about color. You just add the color of your choice after thawing.

How to Freeze Icing

When you need to freeze anything, you need airtight containers or bags. This helps keep your stored food from reacting with bacteria that might be present in the air. It also helps keep the flavor of whatever you have stored in check. This applies to icing and freezing; it does not require any special tools or skill set. To freeze icing you could use piping bags or Ziploc sandwich bags. MX Motocross

Step 1: Bagging the Icing

The quantity of your icing could very well determine the mode of bagging. If you have a large quantity of icing to freeze, you could use small sandwich bags before tossing them in a freezer container to freeze. If you have different colors of icing to freeze, a piping bag would work best. After placing the icing in the bags take extra care to get enough air out of the bags before sealing.

Step 2: Storage and Freezing

If you’re short on storage space in your freezer, you can freeze the sandwich bags flat on a baking sheet first. Before piling them in the freezer, or layering them in a larger freezer bag or container for storage. Mark the sandwich bags with the date of storage so you won’t forget how long you have stored them.

How to Thaw Icing

There is no need to rush when you need to thaw the icing. You can take it out of the freezer and leave it in the fridge to thaw for hours. Never make the mistake of microwaving frozen icing. It would melt into a liquid state and I bet you can’t ice a cake with that!

It is very important to allow your icing to warm back to just room temperature as any further would mean a thinner consistency. Do not rush or skip this step if you don’t want to ruin your icing. 

After thawing you might notice some darker patches in your colored icing. This is not a problem and it is perfectly okay, those darker patches are a result of liquid separating from solids like powdered sugar or meringue powder. Just put the thawed icing into a bowl and mix thoroughly.

How to Make Icing Thicker

You might mix your icing thoroughly and find out that it is now too runny and not as thick as it was before freezing. This might make you question why you decided to freeze the icing in the first place. 

But you don’t have to worry at all, all you need to do is to add stiff icing to the already thin one you have. By adding the stiff icing and mixing thoroughly, you would get that thicker consistency that you desire.

How to Know If Frozen Icing Has Gone Bad

Icing would only last in the freezer for about 3 months. How do you know when your frozen icing that has stayed too long in the freezer, is unfit to eat? Icing that has gone bad will have a darker color, the texture would be thicker, and the aroma would not be pleasant anymore. 

If you are still skeptical, a taste would tell you if it has gone bad or not. That is why it is important to label the containers so that you would not forget what is stored in them and when it was stored.