Frosting spatula
Encyclopedia
Icing (food)
Icing, also called frosting in the United States, is a sweet often creamy glaze made of sugar with a liquid such as water or milk, that is often enriched with ingredients such as butter, egg whites, cream cheese, or flavorings and is used to cover or decorate baked goods, such as cakes or cookies...
on a cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
. It is also an ideal tool for applying spreads onto sandwiches in mass quantities.
The term 'palette knife' is common outside the USA, where the term 'frosting' is not generally used. However a palette knife as a culinary tool is not the same as a palette knife
Palette knife
A palette knife is a blunt tool used for mixing or applying paint, with a flexible steel blade. It is primarily used for mixing paint colors, paste, etc., or for marbling, decorative endpapers, etc...
as used by artists.
The English television cook Delia Smith
Delia Smith
Delia Smith CBE is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills. She is the UK's best-selling cookery author, with more than 21 million copies sold....
refers to the joys of owning a "palette knife with a serrated edge", such that it provides ease of slicing cake as well as the spreading of icing (frosting) upon them.
The traditionally accepted British source "Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management was a guide to all aspects of running a household in Victorian Britain, edited by Isabella Beeton. It was originally entitled "Beeton's Book of Household Management", in line with the other guide-books published by Beeton.Previously published as a part...
" however refers only to the use of a "broad knife" for laying on icing (frosting).