Does anyone have a frosting recipe like buttercream that does not involve Crisco? I was thinking of making a cake with all butter frosting and it will be outside next weekend, am I crazy? Must I use the Crisco recipes? Thanks!!

You can use all butter in your buttercream and it will be yummy, but it may melt. Actually, it will probably melt! I usually go half-and-half on the butter/crisco if I think heat may be a problem. Or you can try your hand at SMBC or IMBC. They're crisco-free.

I think if the weather is decent you won't have a problem. But if you can get your hands on hi-ratio shortening (totally different than Crisco, designed specifically for icing) then you should give that a try with your butter in the recipe. I would swap half of the shortening in your recipe for butter. Indydebi's recipe is very good. Mamawrobin beats her shortening (I think she uses Crisco) for a good 15 minutes before adding the other ingredients. I have also heard that if you use an all shortening recipe you can add heavy cream or half and half for the liquid to make it richer (and you'd have to use butter flavoring of course).

IMBC is very good. I just made it a couple of weeks ago. It's an all butter buttercream, and it has a light and airy whipped flavor, but it's still rich from all the butter. Some people may find it difficult to make, but I nailed it on the first try. I think it's fool-proof as long as you follow tips from people here on CC. I use Cakelove's recipe-you can see Warren Brown make a batch on YouTube. Just make sure you add PLENTY of flavoring to it or the butter taste might be too overwhelming. I used 2 tablespoons of vanilla. The only thing you might have a problem with is that IMBC doesn't crust so you can't use the Viva method or other traditional smoothing methods. There are a lot of threads which talk about how to smooth meringue buttercreams. You have to keep the cake in the fridge after it's iced but you should let it come to room temperature before serving.

I never colored mine so I don't have any suggestions for that, but I know that if you want to smooth it you should add way more buttercream than you think you need, and then use a flat scraper to remove the excess.

Overall, I love IMBC and I think everyone should give it a try at least once. I actually found that it came together MUCH better than powdered sugar based buttercreams because you don't have the mushroom cloud of PS to clean up around your kitchen!

Just consider the weather in your area and plan your buttercream accordingly. Icing meltdown is no fun!

Thank you! I tried a BC recipe last night that was 1/2 1/2 and I liked it a lot, now just to figure out the lemon filling. I really wanted to make it myself but I am afraid to get people sick if it gets warm

I buy the Dickerson's curds at the store. They come in a glass jar. I have only used key lime but I'm sure the lemon is good too. I find it with the other pie fillings. It's kind of pricey but it's very quick and convenient.