I am new to decorating and I was wondering what icing would look good and taste good? When I buy store bought cakes, I like the taste of the whipped cream icing, but I have been told it is harder to decorate with. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1948-23-Butter-Cream-with-real-butter-for-decorators.html
This is similar to what I use. I adjust the butter content depending on how hot it is outside and whether it is for a cake that needs to sit outside or not. I use less butter on hot days and add more crisco. I use different flavorings depending on the flavor of the cake. My favorites are almond, coconut and orange. Try different combinations of flavors. I use milk instead of water also, the sugar keeps it from spoiling.

coconut!! i have never thought of using coconut. when and with what flavor cake do you use it with?

I mix it with the orange and almond and it gives a tropical flavor. I use it with a lot of flavors of cake and everyone that has had it really likes it.

Ohhh, coconut is sooo good!! There are a lot of other extracts too but you have to go to a baking store like in the mall. Yummy!!

also add more vanilla extract and less of the butter. I also add 2 TB of meringue powder to it.

What is "butter flavor"?

It comes in a bottle like vanilla. I usually don't see it in the grocery store, but I can find it at Michael's or cake dec store. You use this if you don't want the discoloration from butter in your icing.

I'm in the process of trying to find a butercream recipe that I like as well. I just made a batch of the Wilton all white one...yuck! There is just no getting away from that mouth-full-of-grease taste no matter how much vanilla or butter flavour I put in. And the texture is not very smooth.

Yesterday I made cali4dawn's recipe which has 1.5 cups shortening to 1 cup butter. It came out very smooth and very good however it didn't seem to want to crust very much. Butter does make it better! I should have stuck with it instead of the Wilton recipe but I wanted that really white look. I'll have to try the Wilton whitener, maybe that would help...

Lisa, have you made your recipe with salted butter? Was there any difference? I know this has been discussed before, however since it's your recipe I was just wondering....

Yes...I've tried it with both salted butter and margarine. The margarine turned my icing a pale shade of yellow and made it tooooo sweet. The salted butter kept the icing white but it was still too sweet. I know that some say adding salt will cut down the sweetness but that hasn't been my experience. The unsalted butter tasted the best.

Also...using the warm water helps get a smooth icing.