Can I use chocolate chips? Has anyone else. All the recipes I see call for baking chocolate...I don't have any.

Any chip is designed to not really "melt" but to hold it's shape. I think you may have trouble getting them to melt smoothly. I usually use baking squares. (Hey did you have any earthquake damage? Hope not!)

On Yes we felt it! It was quite scary. I'm in Richmond, VA so we didn't get much damage thank goodness.

I will try and use the chips, I usually use them for ganache so I hope they will work for my buttercream.

I make ganache and add that to my buttercream (American and Swiss Meringue). It is quite yummy!