leave an aftertaste in frosting? Is is necessary for icing to crust? Thanks

No it doesn't leave an after taste and no it's not necessary for it to crust. I have just revised my BC recipe in my recipes if you want to try it out. I use it for all my cakes.

I have found that the wilton brand had a slight flavor but meringue powder as a whole usually doesn't.

Also, I just learned that MP doesn't have anything to do with the custing...I always thought it did. All it does is stabalize the icing.

Why frosting crusts or doesn't crust:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-3725953-.html

HTH

I think that meringue powder gives my cakes a very slight tang like angel food cake has. I like it. However, using it in my icings it doesn't have a taste.

MP CAN IT MAKE YOUR FROSTING STICK TO EVERY THING BUT YOUR CAKE, IS THERE A GLUE IN IT? OR NO

I have never tasted MP in icing, but everyone has different taste buds and some tastes can be stronger than others. So it could very well leave a taste in icing to you.

It is not needed to get crusting buttercream. If you follow the wilton class recipe and leave it out it will still crust.

Crusting will depend on your sugar to fat ratio. The more sugar the more it crusts, the more fat the slower it crusts and there is a point where when you have so much fat in it it will not crust.