I'm new, trying to learn on my own...My icing seems to be too soft, although I follow the basic recipe used by Wilton. I really want a smooth cake, but when I try to let it crust, parchment and paper towels stick to the icing. I've tried refrigerating also, but after one swipe, its soft again. Any suggestions?

Welcome to Cake Central! You're going to love it here!

About your icing ... any chance you're using the new trans fat free Crisco? If so, that's probably the problem. Lots of people here are having all kinds of problems with the new Crisco ... soft icing, air bubbles, etc. Here's the link to a thread where someone came up with a new recipe for buttercream using the new Crisco (plus a great post from JanH with lots of links to other related threads, on page 3): http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-333213-.html

Hope this helps!

Thanks, I know I did one time, but I still may be using some that I haven't taken a close look at.

You can try the High Humidity Buttercream recipe in the recipe section. It comes out fine with the new crisco and the cheaper walmart brand and it crust well and smooths well with a paper towel. You may need to add a little extra milk to it.

Thanks, I will DEF. try that!

I second the post about the high humidity buttercream. I LOVE that recipe, humidity or not!!!

I made the high humidity bc and it tastes great! Especially for an icing using all shortening. I haven't used it yet, so I'm not sure about it holding up yet, but I'm very impressed w/ the taste. Thanks vrmcc1