Absolutely! I don't know what recipe you use but for Wilton's normal crusting buttercream, you can use shortening, all butter, or mix butter and shortening to get the correct. With butter, you just have to be more careful with heat and humidity because it can wilt and slide easier.
Hope that helps!
I think it is the ratio of powdered sugar to butter/shortening that makes it crust or not. I modified the recipe on the back of the 2 pound C & H powdered sugar bag, doubling the amount of butter, and it crusted even better than my trusty Wilton decorator icing recipe. It got rave reviews, too.
I might be wrong but I think it is actually the meringue powder that makes the Wilton buttercream crust. I have made an all butter buttercream but it is hard to work with. My hands kept heating it up and I would have to stop and refrigerate it. It tasted great but I wasn't impressed with decorating abilities.
Meringue powder doesn't make it crust or not, it just helps to stabilize the icing. (Makes it more heat resistant and less likely to slide off the cake, especially with the new Crisco.)
I have so much trouble with any buttercream (very hot hands), so I habitually keep a zipper bag filled with ice water on my table. Every couple of minutes, I hold the bag of ice to chill my hands down. If I am making a lot of roses or other flowers that need really stiff icing, I will use the shortening. Likewise, if the cake will be kept where it is warm (or transported on a really ht day), I will use the Wilton recipe.
For a cake with RI flowers or simple BC decoration, I don't use shortening.
I only use all butter (don't like the taste w/ shortening) and it crusts up great!
I don't use meringue powder either. All the recipe I use is powdered sugar, butter, flavoring and milk. Everyone raves about the taste too. 
Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn't sure about the meringue powder. I made the mistake of transporting a cake with all butter icing and it was very hot here. Needless to say, by the time I got to my Mom's it was all around the bottom of the cake. Thank goodness it was just for my family and it still tasted good LOL
absolutely. i used to use the wilton crisco recipe (with meringue powder) when i started last year. i then started half butter, half shortening, then went to all butter with m.p., then to just butter with no m.p.
each and every method still crusted. it has more to do with the sugar. if your bc melted down, its possible that it was too thin, and needed more sugar or less liquid.
i now use smbc. (heeheee..love it!)
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