AI want to make cream cheese buttercream and have been searching at the forum and came up this recipe: 1 cup butter 1/2 cup shortening 16 ounces cream cheese 3 1/2 pounds powdered sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt

As you can see there is shortening on the recipe. 1)Do you use shortening, if so which brand? 2)I will make a 9" red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream. If I made that recipe, I would have bowls of buttercream. However, I dont want that much. If I divide the ingredients to half, would I have half of the amount? Thanks

You can substitute butter for the shortening. Half a cup is 4 ounces.

Cutting the recipe in half will work very well.

Make sure you use full fat cream cheese, the reduced fat stuff causes major trouble in icing. If available, Philadelphia brand because it is a standardized product.