I'm making cupcakes for a friend and she wanted me to frost them but then a bunch of 2-yr-olds are going to decorate them for a birthday party. I know that sprinkles don't stick after the frosting has crusted, so is there a buttercream that will allow sprinkles to stick hours later or should I just have the 2-yr-olds frost their cupcakes too?

Here was the recipe I was considering using:
1 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
few tsp/tblsp milk, to get the right consistency

Just use a non-crusting recipe, and even a cream cheese frosting is yummy! I did a cookie pop party for my grandson and I just bought the Wilton tub of frosting for the kids and it worked fine. They had a blast decorating!

I've tried searching for a non-crusting buttercream, but all the recipes that come up are for crusting buttercreams. I thought if I used butter instead of shortening that would keep it from crusting, but I don't know if it's actually the amount of sugar that causes it to crust. Anyone know?

Here is one I found:
http://wrenscottage.com/kitchen/recipes/icing/noncrust_butter.php[url][/url]

I think it's the sugar to fat ratio that causes crusting. The more sugar, the more likely to crust. Have you considered IMBC or SMBC ? They're buttercreams that don't crust.

(Edited to fix my missing ? mark. Off-topic, does anyone know why punctuation is deleted if it immediately follows a "known" acronym? Grrr...)

(Edited AGAIN... It's STILL missing!!! I'm typing that ? mark, I swear!)

Here is another:
[url]http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/index_ee.php/forums/viewthread/298/

But I agree with Sugar Fiend on the SMBC, it is so good! I have yet to try the IMBC for myself.[/url]

What are IMBC and SMBC?

Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Italian Meringue Buttercream. The main difference, as far as I'm aware, is method of preparation. With SMBC, you heat the sugar and egg whites to 160 degrees, whip into meringue, then add the butter. With IMBC, you whip the uncooked whites into meringue, then add (in a thin stream) sugar syrup you've heated to... umm, not sure what temp. (I'm an SMBC gal...)

Here's SMBC I use from this site: http://cakecentral.com/recipes/5453/the-well-dressed-cake-swiss-meringue-buttercream-with-variations

Thanks everybody! You're the best! I'm not sure which route I'll take; I'll have to see want my friend wants to do, but this certainly gives me options!

Thanks everybody! You're the best! I'm not sure which route I'll take; I'll have to see want my friend wants to do, but this certainly gives me options!