I love buttercream! I love my buttercream recipe, which is pretty dang basic, but I think its great. Just butter, shortening, powdered sugar, flavoing, waterr--occasionally I will put an instant pudding flavor in for a different flavor. But my sister does not like buttercream--or atleast she says she doesn't--she's one of those that likes to go against the grain just because Anyway, her bday is coming up soon and she wants me to find a different frosting for her cake--however I am determined to change her mind. Her complaints usually are that its too heavy (which I'm pretty sure I can fix by just thinning it out), her other complaint is that it is too sweet. So does anyone have tricks to make it not so sweet. (I used 1T of Flour (after it was suggested) once but it gave a weird after taste). So any suggestions would be great!! Or if you have a better buttercream recipe, then I'm open to new recipes as well!

Try your hand at an Italian Meringue buttercream IMBC or a Swiss Meringue buttercream SMBC

She'll probably like those better. Both aren't very sweet, more like whipped cream with unsalted butter.

italian meringue buttercream is the way to go. If you need a recipe, PM me.

IMBC FTW.

Can you decorate with them as well as normal buttercream, and can you make them with powdered egg whites?

Yes and yes. There are 2 meringue powder based versions that I've posted in the recipes section.

That's great!! I'm a weirdo I guess, but I have a hard time making icing with raw eggs....I know a lot of people do it, but it it freaks me out!!

That's fine. The sugar syrup cooks the egg whites, (there's actually some debate over whether it does or not, but as hot as you get the syrup, I mandate that it does). You can also use pasturized egg whites from a carton. Or make SMBC instead, which involves cooking the sugar and whites together in a bain marie. I developed the meringue powder version because I don't always need the yolks and the meringue powder lasts for a long time on the shelf!

Did you know that eating raw eggs is actually fairly safe? The chances of an egg having salmonella is extremely small. Washing the outside of the egg and making sure that none of the shell's outside touches the whites or yolk will help keep any possible buggies out. You can take my raw-egg egg nog from my cold, dead hands!