Does anyone know if I can sub the butter in my swiss buttercream icing with shortening? I need to stay away from dairy for a friend's cake. I usually do a reg buttercream for them but would be nice to be able to do something silkier and less sweet

I've never actually made SMBC but in IMBC which I've been told is essentially the same, you can sub shortening.

HTH

Never tried, but I'd think not because shortening (at least over here) doesn't whip as smoothly or easily as butter, and the taste would be bleah. IMO of course, some people prob love it. What about a dark ganache with minimum cream in it, just enough to get it on the cake? Or a choc wrap with BC? Not really silky, but an alternative maybe.

I've added shortening to mine once....it wasn't firm enough and it was warm in the house so I added shortening. It didn't affect the taste or texture of the finished product, except to firm it up a bit.

You could use shortening....it wouldn't taste the same with no butter, and wouldn't be a "true SMBC", but if you are trying to avoid dairy, it is an option. I've never done it with all shortening, but it couldn't taste any worse than an all shortening powdered sugar buttercream, and people use that all the time.

True. We don't do the full shortening BC thing here. I come from the country of butter remember, so my tastebuds are a little biased lol.

Thanks, I think I will just give it a true. Ganache isn't an option. For this friend, her kids are allergic to both dairy AND soy...so I can't even use the soy margarine as a substitute!