Creation

• Royal icing and butter cream frosting are created using different base ingredients. Royal icing contains powdered sugar, water or lemon juice and egg whites or meringue powder. Whether you use water or lemon juice depends on the recipe. Using egg whites is an old-fashioned way of making royal icing. However, because of health concerns about using uncooked eggs, it's common these days to use meringue powder, which contains pasteurized egg whites.

  Butter cream frosting may contain a variety of ingredients, such as butter, cream, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, shortening or flavoring, depending on the exact recipe. The frosting ingredients are creamed together. Unlike mixing, creaming requires beating the mixture until it is creamy and smooth. Creaming usually requires an electric mixer, whereas mixing only requires a spoon.

Fresh Texture

• Butter cream frosting has a rich and velvety texture when fresh due to the butter used in its creation. This smooth texture works well for making large designs such as flowers on cakes and cupcakes. Royal icing has a thin texture when fresh, due to the water or lemon juice and egg whites or meringue powder used in its creation. This thin texture works well for adding a finishing glaze or intricate piping to baked goods.

Drying Time and Texture

• Butter cream frosting takes awhile to dry, so it can stay moist for a few days after application. It eventually dries out to a semi-hard state and can crumble. It maintains a matte finish whether wet or dry. Royal icing dries into a hard and glossy surface quickly after application and is sturdier for longer than butter cream frosting. The amount of time it takes either icing to dry is dependent on the specific frosting or icing recipe.

Taste

• Both butter cream frosting and royal icing are sweet. Butter cream has a creamy taste that can be enhanced with flavorings such as vanilla extract or cocoa powder. Royal icing’s taste is milder than that of butter cream frosting and is similar to powdered sugar.

Use

• Both royal icing and butter cream frosting can be used as a way to cover baked goods or as a way to decorate them. You can use either one to create banners, flowers, beads or lettering on baked goods. Royal icing works better for fine details. It also works well as a “glue” to help secure a broken cake back together. Butter cream works well for larger details and as a filling for baked goods, such as cakes or donuts. It does not work well as glue due to its long drying time.