I am making cakes for both of my daughters within the next two months and I am having trouble finding recipes for frosting. There are so many on the internet and I am new at this, so I have NO clue what to use. I am considering using fondant on one of the cakes and need a good crumb coat recipe. The other will most likely be all hand done using piping bags. My girls are picky and love the pre-made frosting in the can. I want to make my own that will hold up to decorating and taste great. The last thing I need to know is if I should refrigerate the cake after decorating? Either way! I was told not to refrigerate fondant. Please help this mommy make a decent cake!!!

This is my favorite & I use it for all my cakes! It does call for Whipping Cream, most of the time I don't use it. Use your best judgement on how much French Vanilla creamer you want or need to use. I get such rave reviews for my cakes! Make sure you do add some salt, it keeps it from being overly sweet.
Good luck!
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/updated-french-vanilla-buttercream/

I needed a new chocolate and tried Indydebi's...her white was great...and for chocolate I added 3 squares melted chocolate...would that be right Indydebi? or anyone that tried it...cake was gone in a heartbeat...made a chocolate cake with a snicker filling frosted in chocolate...gone in my office in about 1 hour...a record. Recipe under recipes...frostings.

you could use the star tip for a border but because it is light and fluffy I would not use the star tip to do your entire cake such as a character pan...only my opinion though.

Hi, I know what it is like to have 2 birthdays close together. My daughters birthdays are 8 days apart and we always celebrated them together. for years I felt guilty that we did not have the money to celebrate them separately, but you know they are tighter than tight today. I would ask them both what kind of cake did they want. sometimes they would reply with the same answer and so I made them a doll cake. put 3 candles on one side and 5 on the other side of the doll. one year they both wanted cheesecakes, but different flavors. So instead of having two separate parties I made them both a cake.
First a crumb coat is just a thin layer so all you have to do is to thin the icing so it spreads very easily and it doesn't have to coat the entire cake. I have a great buttercream recipe and I will copy and paste it here for you. Well, actually now that I have thought about it it would be easier to copy and past to a pm. It makes a lot so be prepared. I would just thin a little of it and crumbcoat the cakes-both cakes, then add a little more icing to what you have left and and don't thin down as much and ice the cake that you are going to put fondant on and then ice the cake you are not putting fondant on and if you have any left of that just add it back to the other and stir it back in good. I will send my recipe to your message box.

if you want great tasting fondant then try my Jello MMF recipe. the link is in my signature line.

i hear indydebs buttercream is great.

I use this recipe...it's delicious!!

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/buttercream-dream/

I don't have any problems with borders using this frosting, I have not used it for a cake with the star tip. It is not a good stiff frosting so roses do not have crisp edges, but I still make roses with it. But, I also do not add any vanilla to this frosting as it is really good as written.
Hope you post pictures of your finished cake!

My favorite frostings:

Earlene's: http://www.earlenescakes.com/icings.htm,
Earlene's works great for icing, piping, and under fondant. It is a crusting recipe.

Sugarshack: http://cakecentral.com/recipes/sugarshacks-buttercream-icing/
I use liquid coffeemate instead of reconstituted.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream: www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Swiss-Meringue-Buttercream-109239
softer, less sweet, still good for under fondant or piping stars (refrigerate first so it firms up on your cake if applying fondant over this icing).

Whimsical Bakehouse House Buttercream:
www.cakescanada.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=66&highlight=whimsical
softer, whipped icing but can still pipe stars and simple designs

Sorry, the link to Earlene's recipe is not working. If you go to her site (ww.earlenescakes.com) and look under recipes, then icing it is there along with a lot of valuable details about the recipe. You can also google search Earlene's buttercream recipe and it should come up. HTH.