hi, whenever i make buttercream..it always curdles...it tastes great but it always curdles n even when i have tried crusting buttercream they never crust infact they r always very soft....please help.....one more, where i stay we do not get shortening or meringue powder, so i use half butter n half margraine....

Hi and welcome to CC. If you will give your full recipe, someone will help you.

As the other poster said, it would be very helpful to see your recipe so we can disect it.
Just off the top of myhead it sounds like you are using way too much liquid in the recipe but then again, w/o knowing the amount of ingredients it's really hard to say.

If it's the SMBC recipe, I thought it was supposed to curdle at one stage but then with continual mixing, it smooths out.

Again, as everyone else has said, maybe if we saw your recipe, we could help better.

Too much liquid can make the icing seperate and look curdled. Also butter and margraine have some liquids in them, and they also can get softer than shortening.

I would cut back on the liquids and possible switch to something like heavy cream, since it is a thicker than water.

I would also personally just use all butter, if you can't get any shortening.

hi everybody..sorry for the delay in reply...but i tried two recipes from cc only....Crusting chocolate fudge buttercream icing by Gourmetcakes n another one was chocolate buttercream icing...which was recommed as decoraters icing...maybe nxt time i will use only butter..but if u guys can just help me in telling me which recipe i should follow for crusting icing on cakes i would be grateful...as there are so many recipes n its so confusing....thanks

I use the viva buttercream and everyone LOVES it and last night I use the crusting cream cheese (it's the first one listed I'd u search that) and it was also a hit...both of those are on this site

thanks will try that