does it have to be refrigerated?

I like this one,but it is too sweet. I also am not a fan of buttercream recipes that I have tried and am looking for one that is not so sweet.

If you think this is too sweet, try adding about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp fine salt. I have had real good luck with adding salt to my butter cream to bring out the rich taste of the butter and cut down on the sweetness.

can you pipe with this butter cream?

Sounds yummy... but how does it crust? does it firm up well? I really want to find a good go-to buttercream. THANKS for sharing!

I use a similar recipe - 1 cup of butter, 1 cup of shortening, 6 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla and heavy cream. It is delicious and can be piped. I often wonder if the small amount heavy cream makes it require refrigeration. I can't seem to get a good answer on that one. Does anyone know for sure? I too hate the buttercream recipes that taste like shortening.

Yep, Kat's right. Add salt, it cuts the sugar. Just use un-iodized and mix well because when you color it to decorate, you'll get little tiny white spots in your color. I learned this the hard way.

Correction to my recipe - 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Absolutely cuts the sweetness.

I use a recipe very similar. It is:-

250 grams unslated butter 4 cups icing sugar Vanilla to taste Water (hot) Method:- cream butter and vanilla until soft and turned pale in colour. Add icing sugar and enough water to get the consistency that you desire.

There is no need to refrigerate. There is a thread in the forums titled "icing" that dicusses this topic in great detail. Doug explains why no refrigeration is required.

This one is a little sweet for my taste.

My tried and true buttercream recipe is as follows: 2 sticks margarine, 1 cup shortening, 1 tsp clear vanilla, 2lb bag powdered sugar, and milk. Cream margarine, shortening, and vanilla together. Add powdered sugar 1/4 bag at a time adding a couple Tbsp of milk as you go. I usually put in 1/2-3/4 of the bag before I add any milk. If I'm piping with it I always take some out of my mixer while it's thick and then I add a touch more milk to make it a good icing consistency.

I found that using margarine instead of butter makes a better icing.

If you dissolve the salt in one of your liquids..you won't have to worry about white specks.

Thanks for sharing that tip about the white specks I didn't know the salt did that :)

How much heavy whipping cream do we use???

Thanks everyone for sharing their own special recipes.Colbiecakes, I was able to let this icing sit out for several hours and it was fine. I did however refridgerate before piping for thicker consistency. I did not find it to be too sweet! I used salted butter, maybe that cuts down on the sweetness? I believe it is ok to sit out due to the high content of sugar. It keeps the cream from spoiling. DM321, it crust beautifully!! Has a very homemade flavor and stays pretty white even without the shortening. CakE101, I guess some of the recipe got cut off. I used 1/4 cup total of cream/milk mixture (1/2 cream 1/2 milk). You really could use more or less, depending on your preference. As far as adding salt goes, I may play around with it a bit to see if it turns out the same or better! :)

All these buttecreams sound great but I would like to know when using the butter and clear vanilla flavor how do you keep your icing snow white? I love the snow white icing? Thanks :)

Try using the white icing color made by Wilton for snow white icing.

hi, i am new to the cake making world and i want to do one for my daughters birthday, i am going to try your buttercreams but i do not know what is ment by shortening? help please :) thanx

Crisco is shortening. Make sure you don't buy the butter flavored kind. Sharon Zambito has a good recipe for buttercream using high-ratio shortening. It tastes better, but it is harder to find and more expensive.

Thank you for the recipes, but quick question...any of these crust??

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I'm new to cakecentral and I have been reading the blogs, my questions is has anyone tried using high ratio shortening instead of using so much of the other shortening when making buttercream? I use 2 cups high ratio 1 cup shortening 1 lb confectioners sugar (4 cups sugar) 1 tsp. clear vanilla Milk or water to achieve desired consistency

I like this recipe because you don't have that gooey after taste in your mouth and the buttercream taste great

I have a very easy buttercream recipe and I am not a fan of shortening either. I use 4 sticks of real salted butter, 2lb bag of C&H powdered sugar, dash of pure (the real stuff)vanilla extract, and pure almond extract (optional), mix on low speed on mixer and add warm water to desired consitency. it crusts well and tastes great.

Trudy53 you can also buy butter from a health store with no dyes. butter is white when made and colored to yellow. although the price is higher you get an all natural all white butter.

I have always wondered why so many recipes call for so much butter and/or shortening. I use only one cup of hi-ratio shortening per 2# of powdered sugar. I've noticed many recipes call for 2-3 cups of shortening per 1# of powdered sugar. To me, one is eating a lot of grease and, it makes your buttercream much more expensive.

i've always used the viva method crusting buttercream from this site. i think it tastes much better than others i've tried. but now i'm curious to try the all butter recipe since you say it crusts well. thanks for all the tips and recipes ;)

Best buttercream ever is 8 ounces of real butter *salted) 8 ounces of cream cheese 2 lbs of pure cane powdered sugar. Cream the butter and cream cheese well, add the powdered sugar slowly. It crusts great and tastes even better. Freezes well too. I think the cream cheese takes a bit of the sweet away. But it is very rich. I use it for all my cakes.

I make a couple of buttercreams - w/ONLY butter (shortening-including recipes are banned in my home) and they crust up just fine (I wouldn't throw them under a heat lamp or leave 'em in a sunny window, as I live in the Gulf South, but just sayin'). I use unsalted butter, I sift all dry bits and the recipes come up so danged silky smooth. I haven't heard that my icings are too sweet yet and my recipes are pretty low on ingredients. I don't fuss w/stark white frostings - if I'm asked for that, I go fondant for sure. I'm not about to forego butter (or half & half w/shortening) just for whiteness. But to each their own.

I find that alot of the buttercreams are so sweet. To fix this problem I use half unsalted butter and half salted butter. It cuts the sweetness without turning it salty or bitter.

hi, everyone. I'm also new to cake decorating. I've been doing it for a few months now. My problem is my icing cracking during transporting the cakes. What can I do to prevent this?

Does anyone have any experience with Swiss buttercream, tell me everything,

I love the taste of swiss buttercream. At first I thought it was a lot of work but after making so much of it I have found that it was worth it. i just found a Swiss Buttercream from Martha Stewart's cupcake book that is even easier than others that I have found. I also have used the recipe from Cake Love's Recipe book. Absolutely wonderful and easy to use. Firms up in the refridgerator.

I have just used Martha's swiss buttercream also, very nice not as sweet as using icing sugar.

Crap, I am so sorry! I was trying to read the rating and accidentally hit a rating which lowered the score... I havent even gotten to make it yet!! sorry!