Are you team cake or team frosting?
TikTok has certainly made its choice. It all started when creator Audrey Rose (@enidandaudrey) posted a video of herself eating bright-blue Funfetti frosting in March.
“Let’s try blue Funfetti icing,” she says before tapping her manicured nails against the tin for a little extra ASMR. “It’s like yogurt but unhealthy.”
After adding a smattering of sprinkles on top, she does what most of us would never dare do. She dunks her spoon into the tub and takes a bite. And another. And another.
The video, which she claims was the first in what is now a viral trend across Foodtok, has amassed over 11 million views. And people have thoughts in both directions:
“I miss eating icing out of the container bru,” one user wrote in the comments.
“I would start gagging soooo bad,” wrote another.
“Is anybody worried about their health,” asked someone else.
“Did somebody say ‘Diabetes?’” commented another.
“Am I the only one who loves eating icing too,” asked yet another.
To answer that last one: No, you are certainly not the only one. Since the March video went viral, eating Funfetti’s vibrant frosting on camera has become incredibly popular on the food side of TikTok, with some of the most viral posts under the hashtag #frosting being these types of videos.
Among those posts is one by Hallie Perez of @hallieiseating, whose video of herself eating bright-pink frosting with crystalized sprinkles also garnered over 11 million views. And like many of the TikTokers engaging in this trend, eating frosting is nothing new to her.
Perez has always had a sweet tooth. “Growing up, it was always such a joke because whenever [my family and I] would go and travel anywhere, everyone would always want to try the new cuisines and stuff like that. And I was always like, ‘I want the chocolate cake for breakfast,’” she tells TODAY.com.
So when she started her own mukbang account — a social media page dedicated to eating foods for an audience — it became very easy to satisfy that craving.
Why are these cavity-inducing videos so popular?
As far as Funfetti mukbangs, specifically, it seems that audiences continue to tune in for two reasons.
First, the satisfying colors and textures make users stop dead in their scrolling tracks. From blue to pink and beyond, watching someone eat colorful icing seems to wake up the senses in a way that seeing someone eat a cup of yogurt with granola just doesn’t.
“There’s a large ASMR audience. The crunch is really good with the sprinkles and creaminess of the icing,” Rose tells TODAY.com. “I think those just work really well together for ASMR.”
And the second reason these videos seem to have skyrocketed in popularity might be our human response of wanting what we know we shouldn’t have.
“I think it’s because it’s not something that most people would want to do themselves,” adds Perez. “And most people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, how could you eat a spoonful of frosting like that?’”
And while this kind of content has drawn criticism for promoting unhealthy eating habits, Perez says she is able to eat in moderation.
“If I’m craving some frosting that day, I’ll eat a couple spoonfuls of frosting. We’re not restricting ourselves,” Perez explains. “But I’m not going sit there and eat frosting every single day. [Moderation is[ what I’m always preaching in my comments. When people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so unhealthy,’ I’m like, it’s unhealthy if you do it in an unhealthy way.”
Is there a healthy way to eat frosting on its own?
According to registered dietitian Shyla Cadogan, the answer is complicated. If one decided to eat copious amounts of icing regularly, the effects stretch far and wide.
“In the immediate, what you are mainly providing your body with is a high amount of added sugar, but also you’re providing your body with a significant amount of fat as well if you were eating most of or even just a significant amount of frosting in one sitting,” Cadogan tells TODAY.com. “You are eating large amounts of added sugar without anything to really buffer it. So there really isn’t much protein. There is no fiber to help to slow how quickly your blood sugar is increasing, so it’s much more likely to spike if you’re eating large amounts of frosting in one sitting.”
In the long term, eating large amounts of frosting has a whole other host of risks.
“Lasting effects could absolutely be insulin resistance, which could eventually lead to type two diabetes if this is done in the long term,” she shares. “Obviously, we don’t know people’s other habits outside of [doing Frosting mukbangs], but it could potentially lead to excessive nausea, bloating, and GI issues overall.”
We also can’t “forget the potential dental effects like cavities and all of that as well,” she adds. “And you know, depending on overall diet quality, it can promote excessive weight gain, as well.”
Many of these risks are exactly what users point out in the comment sections of these videos, as well as suggesting that these mukbangers aren’t swallowing the food at all. In that same vein, Cadogan warns users against engaging in copycat behavior, especially since we only get a snapshot of people’s eating habits online.
“I think there’s a difference, at least from what I’ve been seeing, between having a spoonful of icing and also having multiple spoonfuls and adding more sugar on top of that via sprinkles, and also eating the entire thing,” Cadogan says . “I think that’s a spectrum. And so for the people that I have seen who are over eating that, it can normalize a skewed, unrealistic relationship with food.”
But on the other end of the spectrum, some say these videos can help heal people’s complicated relationship with food.
“A lot of people have messaged me and said, ‘You’ve really helped me with my relationship with food and my eating disorder. You’ve helped me know that food’s not the enemy,’” Perez shares. “I’m not saying frosting is necessarily fueling your body in the best way, but you’re allowed to indulge and enjoy your life. It’s not that serious. Don’t sit there and be like, ‘I can never have frosting. I can never have a brownie.’ Live your life.”
And as Cadogan notes, indulging in the foods that you like in moderation shouldn’t be shameful, but it’s important to take that extra step to identify what’s an actual craving and what’s something you’ve just seen on your For You page five minutes ago.
“Something that I always talk about in my patient care is bringing awareness to your own hunger and fullness cues,” Cadogan says.
So, if your heart is in it, don’t be afraid to take a spoon to that icing in the back of your fridge. As Perez would say, “Life is too short to not eat the spoonful of frosting.”
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