I know there are recipes out there for wonderful true butter buttercream. Can anyone help me? I have looked and can not find one in my books.

I wish my granny were here she had one. Please Help and Thank You in advance, ShanonM

I only use butter in my recipes if you like a sweeter crusting recipe I use this one:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/16155/french-vanilla-buttercream
or this one

Ingredients

* 2 cups butter
* 8 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract
* 6 fluid ounces heavy cream

Directions

1. Cream butter until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces). Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

or if I want a lighter taste that is not as sweet I use SMBC the recipe is as follows:

Sinful Swiss Meringue Butter Cream
Ingredients

* 1/2 cup (4 oz) of egg whites
1 cup (8 oz) of granulated sugar
1 1/2 (12 oz) cup butter
1 tsp of flavoring (I use 3/4 tsp van & 1/4 tsp almond)

Instructions

Put eggs and sugar in your mixing bowl and beat with whisk until well combined. Put bowl over a hot bath on stove top and KEEP mixing until mixture is no longer grainy to the touch (approx 3 min). When thats done, take bowl to mixer using the balloon whisk on medium speed until a meringue like texture is achieved may take up to 10 min(but worth it if you want a slightly stiffer frosting). Replace balloon whisk for paddle. Slowly add your room temp butter in pieces and mix until smooth. Now add your extracts and (color optional-pref gel). You will notice it curd a bit approx. 3 min into mixing, keep it on medium for another 3-4 min and it will be smooth & silky. Dont get impatient it will turn out so good! Hope you enjoy.

Look up the recipes for Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC) and Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC).

Are any of these suggested recipes good for piping? I need to make a cake with buttercream frosting but my friend is allergic to crisco so I need to find a way to make it without crisco but so that it still is stiff enough for piping.

Thanks!

I second the IMBC and SMBC. Although I've had more success with IMBC. Both of these are great for piping. I think the IMBC would even be better as it's not at all grainy because it uses a cooked sugar syrup.

If you don't want to use a cooked syrup frosting, then you could sub butter for crisco, might be a bit softer and I wouldn't want to let it sit out in hot sunny weather (same goes for IMBC and SMBC), but it should work.