There isn’t one. While most people can agree on what a glaze is, frosting and icing are essentially interchangeable even within the profession. But, since this is my blog and I like to make these things official, I’m going to give general definitions for all of these.

Glaze: A very thin topper. Can be either sweet, or savory–such as egg white used on breads and rolls to add gloss and crunch. As I’m allergic to egg that probably won’t come up much. However, sweet glazes almost certainly well. They’re typically somewhat syrupy in consistency. Consider the white, sugary glaze on some donuts and twisty pastries.
Icing: Midway between the two, not as thick as frosting. Will thicken and became somewhat hard. Like the chocolate used on donuts.

Frosting: Thick and creamy. The classic frosting. Remains fluffy. Prevalent on cakes and cupcakes.

There are, of course, umpteen more uses for, and styles of, frostings. These are just to give you a general idea of what sort of confection we’re dealing with here. They will be used in the title, if nowhere else.

Possible Allergens: Potato (mix), milk.

Modifications: Egg replacer, almond extract.

Batter Type: Wet enough not to hold a peak, sticky enough to hold swirls from a spoon or mixer.

I had one wish as I started this cake: That it not be grainy and dry. Success! It came out moist and of a good consistency–not too heavy and not too light. I considered adding a bit of lemon juice to make it a yellow cake, one of my favorites, but my mother suggested almond. Divine.

I hadn't planned the icing ahead of time. After choosing chocolate I had a wealth of recipes to choose from, and ultimately went with one that was in our recipe drawer. This icing involves melting & boiling on a stove, but it isn't very work intensive. Throw in all the ingredients and heat.

Definately a winner.

Ideal: For tea time! Would also be a great birthday cake with classic frosting. The icing is a great presentation tool as it drips and swirls nicely.

White Cake
(These directions are all on the back of the packet under "For Cake you'll need…")

Preheat oven to 350F and grease pan. The packet calls for an 8-inch or 9-inch round pan. Just one. Ours are fairly shallow (Inch and a half max) so I cooked this in our springform pan, which is much deeper, and it came out fine. Not sure if it makes enough batter to work in two pans, but it might. I would definately check on it sooner than the recommended time if you do that.

Soften butter and beat with mixer until smooth. I'm a bit of an idiot when it comes to softening butter in the microwave, but it turned out well regardless. The butter was mostly melted, but after adding the mix it did was butter and sugar is supposed to do: it formed balls. So, add the mix and use beater to mix thoroughly until all powderyness is gone.
Add egg (replacer) and vanilla. The egg replacer works really well–it turned to batter almost immediately!

Add milk or water and beat for smoothness. I then made the decision to add about 3/4 tsp of almond extract. Entirely optional, but I loved it.
Place in pan and bake. Test for done-ness with the classic "stick a knife/point in and see if it comes out clean" method. I always set my timer some 5-10 minutes early but this was done around when they said it would be.

Allow to cool, and enjoy!

When removing it from the springform the ring came off smoothly but the bottom was still very moist. It did tip out alright but I was slow getting it onto the plate and it began to split. As I've used the same methods with umpteen other cakes that have been more lenient, I feel it bears mentioning. Be swift, be prepared. And remember that icing covers a multitude of sins…

Icing

I chose this for its relative simplicity. Other recipes at this site call for flour (?!) and a bunch of other things you shouldn't need. The url is http://www.justchocolaterecipes.com/cho-0045467.html

Just in case the site is down:

Combine ingredients and cook over low heat and stir. Ie, allow chocolate, butter, and sugar to melt.

Bring to a full rolling boil and time 1 minute. This was harder than it sounded. I didn't want to burn my sugar but I was using the smallest ring on our stove. Use your own judgment.

Place in pan of cold water to cool. …I hadn't prepared this ahead of time and I am a great fool. I put it into a bowl and but that in the freezer for maybe 20 minutes, rotating it once. Reduced the overall temperature marginally.

Beat with a mixer until gloss is lost. I couldn't get it to do this. Instead it was sort of syrupy. Not such a bad thing, actually.

I used a large serving spoon to drizzle the icing artfully across the top of the cake. It looked magnificent, but it was too drippy to use extensively or to frost the sides with. That left me with half a bowl of this stuff now sitting in the fridge. If this had been a 2-tier cake it probably wouldn't be a problem, but keep that in mind.

This icing definately stiffens as it cools, so I poked some holes in the top, put big blobs over the holes in hopes that they would sink in, and then used a knife to smooth the icing across the top. That worked very well.

When cooled, it stops being syrupy and is almost grainy. It still tastes wonderful and is like a dry frosting.

So, the cake I will repeat again. The icing will be for certain occasions where presentation is an issue. It would be nice at a tea party, perhaps with nuts sprinkled across the top. Mmmm…