the best thing I ever did was start buying my buttercream at Sam's Club in a 28 lb. bucket!!! It's more than 200% cheaper than it was for me to make it which = more profit for me in the end and it crusts beautifully, smooths really well and easily and my customers LOVE it......it's very sweet, but for those that like a less sweet icing, I offer Rich's bettercreme (whipped icing) as well!!

I use Sugarshack's recipe and replace half the shortening with butter and this is the only BC of this type I like. Usually it is too sweet but the butter helps offset it and it still crusts nice. Like Jennifer7777 I also use the sausage method. It is the BEST for loading bags. I do this all the time but I don't freeze like this as I like to rebeat my frozen frosting. I have frozen my BC for up to three months since I don't make many cakes. It works well.

For some reason I'm not getting notices about this topic! Anyway, Mickeebabe, you should be able to find heavy cream at your local grocery store next to the milk, it's also called heavy whipping cream sometimes.
This recipe doesn't need to be refrigerated, the sugar to fat ratio acts as a preservative keeping bacteria from growing. I leave all my cakes at room temp.
And yep, this definitely works with cuppys, if you look in my gallery all my cupcakes are made with this recipe
Cupcakeluv24 -you're welcome! I love it too, clean-up goes much more quickly!