I use Indydebi's buttercream almost exclusively and have always been able to get it to crust and smooth beautifully. When I made it for the cake I just did yesterday (the one with the purple and silver flowers), it took a bit longer to crust, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I tried to smooth it out and it just wouldn't work - none of my usual tricks worked, so I just did a "rustic" look. The texture seemed different, though. I frosted last night and didn't move it until this afternoon, so I thought it would be set up really well. I had a 20 minute drive on relatively smooth roads, and when I got to the customer's home, the frosting had pulled away from the cake at the top edge of the top tier. I assuming it was from the weight of the flowers, but they had stayed put all night long. In the past, as long as I let the frosting set really well, it stayed put, but not so much this time. That, coupled with the weird texture and trouble smoothing the cake, makes me wonder what's going on.

Has anyone else had issues like this? Any idea what could be causing it?

It could be your brand of shortening. Several people lately have had problems with different shortenings because they no longer have transfats. Without the transfat much of the stability of the icing goes away. You may have to switch to a hi ratio shortening. I don't know if that is it or not, but I have heard people specifically talk about the changes in Crisco.

Crisco's formula changed 4 years ago, so it hasn't had transfat in it in 4 years.

Was the cake frozen or in the fridge?

I had the same problem when I made Indydebi's BC this week .... I've never had a problem before. I eagerly await the solution.

Eh, I had no idea when it changed. There's been so many transfat threads on here lately I haven't read them all. not to mention I do not have nearly as much knowledge as toy, Texas Sugar. Thanks for sharing!

The cake was never in the freezer or the fridge. It sat on my counter overnight and then traveled in a well air-conditioned car for the 20 minute drive.

I use the shortening from Aldi, but that's what I've always used. . .

Same happened to it used to me excellent but now it doesn't work

I use Indy debs recipe all the time. I used to buy aldi's shortening but started having problems. I switched to the shortening at Rite-aid. The aldi's has no trans fat but the rite aid(sav-a-lot) brand does have trans fat. I believe in this heat it has made a HUGE difference. hth

I honestly believe that icing (just like cakes) will have a problem every so often. I had a cake about 2 weeks ago that would not crust nothing will help. I made the icing a couple days later it crusted just fine. I use Indydebi's recipe for reg buttercream & cream cheese.

There can be a lot of things that caused that ... anywhere from the shortening to the confectioner's sugar. Like I mentioned before It normally works perfect but this one time it didn't & I just ended up using a bench scraper to smooth it.

I will say the only difference between the two days was the heat. One day there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen & the last time it was just me. So try it again & see if it works for you.
HTH.

I had the same problem earlier this week when I tried to use this frosting. I've used it in the past with no problem.

One tier of my cake frosted fine. The other tier I could not get to frost correctly for anything. It looked like the frosting was sliding off. Ended up having to scrape the cake clean and use my regular butter based buttercream even though it was an outside party.

I made sure to buy a shortening brand that had a small amount of trans-fat in it too. I'd love to hear what the problem/solution is!

I had the same problem last week, but I think it was because of extremely high humidity, outdoor wedding and my supplier delivered/changed powdered sugar without notice. I think they slipped in 14x...it just dissolved when I added it to the crisco mix.

Heat and humidity will affect it. it's not as sensitive as butter-based icings, but if it gets warm enough or humid enough in your kitchen, you will have issues with it not crusting as well. It's hot where I live and when I do a cake, I turn the AC down to 72 the night before so the house gets nice and cool. If it's warmer than 76 in my house, I have more trouble with icing.

About the spot where it fell away from the top of the cake, was the sun shining through the car window onto that part? Or if it was in a box, onto that part of the box?

Also, when I used to use the store brands of shortening for the trans-fats, there used to be a huge variation in quality from tub to tub. Some tubs were stiff enough, others were so soft there were pools of oil in them. Now I just buy big tubs of Crisco from Sam's and it's all the same, all the time.

I've learned in my kitchen, I have to bake one night then actually ice another night. Other wise the heat from my oven just keeps it very warm in there. I actually have fans going in there because it's a rather large area with one ac vent, and it's on the other side of the kitchen.

Last Saturday I did a Wilton POPS class at Michaels. I dipped RCT in candy melts. They had set up fine before I left the store. On the way home, a 15 min drive, with the AC going in the car, the candy melts were soft and looked like I had just dipped them!

I don't think any shortening I can get locally has transfat anymore. For awhile the Aldi's brand did but since last Christmas, not anymore. Walmart brand still did until this past winter too, now it's all gone. I've done OK with the non-transfat shortening (whether this is due to the meringue powder I add - well I have no idea) but I am hoping Indydebi's recipe with the DreamWhip works - I would think the DreamWhip would work as a stabilizer.

I've had that happen in the past. I decided that I had probably just added a tad too much liquid, or else I added too much coloring. I cut back on the liquid, and I had no more trouble.