i have decided to make my own mini cupcakes for my upcoming wedding.  have mastered the cake recipe to a tee and its lovely and moist and just taste delicious.  however i am a little uncertain on the buttercream or frosting to use. 

can anyone tell me what the difference is please and which one would u be more inclined to use.  also can someone point me in the right direction for a recipe that will last and not 'melt' while being on display for the day.  

many thanks 

AThere is Buttercream and American Buttercream. Buttercream is made with shortening and American Buttercream is made with butter. I think that's how it goes. You can also make Buttercream half shortening half butter. I personally make a all shortening buttercream using high ratio shortening , it stands up better to heat and is good for a wedding and withstanding being out all day.

There are tons of 'butter creams'.

American is a very sweet thick concoction of icing sugar, butter and a small amount of liquid.

Then you have meringue bases, Swiss meringue and Italian meringue. Italian, in my experience, is a bit firmer, sets up a little better and is better to pipe with.

Then there's french butter cream, by far my favourite, it uses egg yolks instead of whites. It's a very silky buttery frosting, denser than the meringues ones. It isn't the greatest for piping details, but I use it on cupcakes all the time.

There is also roux butter cream, where you cook milk, flour and vanilla into a paste, then beat it with granulated sugar and butter, it's also delicious. (It's called a few things, heritage frosting, fake buttercream, cloud frosting)

I use a real vanilla bean or bean paste, and it comes out tasting like room temperature ice cream, lol. You just have to beat it for a long time to get it smooth and fluffy. It doesn't hold up to heat very well though.

Personally, I never use shortening, can't call something without butter 'butter cream' :) I also don't live in a very hot climate though.

If you are worried about that, you can sub in some high ratio shortening, or try out http://cakecentral.com/a/indydebis-crisco-based-buttercream-icing

I've never used it, but I've read good things about it on CC.