No need to throw out that leftover frosting. There are many delicious uses for frosting, so no matter if you made too big a batch or didn’t finish a tub of store bought frosting, there are tons of options I will show you today.
Here are some things you can make with leftover icing.
Ideas For Treats To Make With Leftover Icing
- Baking More Cookies and Cakes
One natural solution to have if you realize that you have too much icing is to simply make more food to go with it. This works best whenever you find yourself in a situation where you are making desserts for other people, but you overestimated how much frosting you would put on the food. Assuming that you have the batter and the rest of the ingredients to make more, this is a very straightforward way for you to make use out of any leftover icing you have, no matter what the flavor of the icing might be. - Making Cake Pops
Another good way to make use of icing, especially if you don’t have enough cake batter to make another full cake, is to simply make cake pops. Cake pops are made with crumbs from leftover, freshly baked, or store-bought cake. Crumble the cake, mix it with icing, and form it into balls. Then dip each ball into melted icing, let it firm up, and insert a stick to make it a “pop.” Decorate as desired. - Making a Glaze
Icing is often too thick for many dessert purposes, but thankfully, it is pretty easy to alter it and turn it into something that can be used for other recipes. By adding some milk (or a plant-based alternative) to most standard buttercream icings, you can turn it into something that has the consistency of a glaze rather than the type of icing you would see on a cake. This kind of glaze can be used to top cookies that may benefit from a thinner glaze, cinnamon rolls, and similar desserts. - Making Mints
If you are someone who enjoys adding the taste of mint to your treats for a cool and refreshing feeling on the tongue, then making mints out of your leftover icing may be a good step for you to take. These mints are commonly referred to as butter mints for the high amount of butter content and are pretty easy to make, meaning that you won’t have to have a lot of experience in making confectionaries in order to enjoy these. Butter mints can also have other flavors added to them and they tend to take food coloring well as they have many traits of standard buttercream icing, meaning that they can also be a fun and colorful treat. - Using it as a Spread
Just as people use butter and jams as spreads on healthier snacks, you can turn your leftover icing into a spread that is designed for desserts. You often don’t even need to adjust the ingredients or the icing that much to do this. All you really need is something that you would be spreading the icing on, such as plain graham crackers or fairly plain cookies. This way, you can make use out of your icing without needing to dive into your baking supplies to make something brand-new. - Using it as a Dessert Dip
Following a similar vein as using your icing as a dessert-oriented spread for other foods, if you are someone who enjoys fresh fruit every so often, you may find that you can use your leftover icing as a more dessert-oriented dip for it. This helps you retain some of the healthier aspects of eating fruit as a snack, since you are still getting the vitamins and the minerals from it, but it can also help satisfy a sweet tooth that you have and help you get rid of some of your icing in a tasty and easy to use manner. - Encrusting Chocolate
If you are someone who likes to make chocolate desserts, but you don’t like the way that melted chocolate will leave a gritty layer on your plate, then you may find that you can simply use icing as a medium for your chocolate treats rather than using melted chocolate. Take the leftover icing that you have and mix it with some melted chocolate until it has been doubled in size, leaving little pieces of the chocolate that can probably be handled with a toothpick or by hand. The icing will stick to the chocolate, which can then be used for any desserts that you want. - Adding an Icing Taste to Other Foods
Following a similar vein as the previous point, if you are someone who likes to make deserts out of leftover icing, but doesn’t like how buttercream and other icings taste or smell, you might try adding some flavoring to it. Many flavorings, such as those that have a butter/flavoring blend to them, can be added in order to help improve the flavor of your icing. If there is an icing out there that has the kind of taste that you want to add to your desserts, there is a good chance that it will help to add it into your dishes.
Conclusion
Whether you are looking to get rid of too much icing at a party or just want to make more fluffy, delicious treats for yourself, the above tips can help you do so. Use some of these hacks yourself and see how well they work for you.