I have a recipe to make icing, it's from Wilton's and I have to make it for my cake course. And it calls for 4 cups of icing, but does not say sifted or not. I never sifted, but I am going to do it for this recipe, but am unsure if the 4 cups should be measured before or after I sift?

"4 cups, sifted" means to measure out 4 cups then sift it.

"4 sifted cups" means to sift it, then carefully measure out 4 cups.

If I recall correctly from many many decades ago (back when they called it "Home Ec" classes), the difference between sifted and non-sifted flour was 2 tsps or 2 Tbsp per cup.

Any icing I've made, I've measured out the sugar THEN sifted it for a smoother icing.

Great! Thank you so much!

Weigh your ingredients Sifted or not, it weighs the same.

Thanks for the tips