Hello..... I have tried several crusting (all crisco/hi ratio) buttercream recipes but I just can't find one that I feel tastes as good as my recipe made with half butter/half crisco. The problem is I can't get a real good crust with my current recipe to use any of the smoothing techniques. Here is the recipe I use:

4 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups crisco
2 Tbsps vanilla extract
4 lbs powdered sugar.
1 tsp popcorn salt
hot water as needed

I've also tried adding additional cornstarch (up to 1/2 cup for this recipe) and meringue powder (2 Tbsps) I've tried SugarShacks recipe using the hi-ratio shortening and while it is tasty, to me, its super sweet.

I guess what I'm looking for is: does anyone have a crusting buttercream recipe using butter...or is that impossible?? I've got some wedding cakes coming up and I really want my buttercream to be as smooth as possible. Am I going to have to just keep my recipe and use the "hot knife" method?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions

We don't use any crisco or shortening in our buttercream, and it crusts and smooths just fine. We do use meringue powder. It's definitely not impossible to get all butter bc smooth. Our recipe is:

2 sticks butter
1 lb pow sugar
1 tbs meringue powder
2-3 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla

That's a much smaller recipe than yours, but you get the idea.

When i make american crusting b/c, i also use butter, crisco, powder sugar, little salt, vanilla,or whatever flavoring, but i use heavy whipping cream for liquid. Mine always crust great, so i can use the paper towel method. I quit using meringue powder 17 yrs. ago. I could never smooth my icing. Lots of decorators on this site use indydebi's buttercream. They love it.


http://cakecentral.com/recipe/indydebis-crisco-based-buttercream-icing

http://www.designmeacake.com/bcrec.html
from Edna De La Cruz
Ingredients:

1/2 cup solid high ratio shortening
1/2 cup butter softened
1 tablespoon of merengue powder
1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract (or extract of choice)
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk

Preparation:
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla and milk. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating on a slow speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. Keep bowl or covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Don't overwhip or it will bring air to the icing and is impossible to smooth. If you have a kitchen Aid use white attachment, not whip attachment. You can use coffee creamers for flavorings or combine extracts.
YIELD: Makes about 3 cups.

I always add solid ganache to my buttercream. The other ingredients are butter, sugar and pure extracts. I particularly like how it doesn't leave great big holes when I smooth it. Its very creamy and crusts just fine.

Your recipe looks to have too much butter/shortening for the amount of powdered sugar. That ratio of fat/sugar is what aids crusting.
I use Indydebi's bc, and when I double the recipe, I use 2 2/3 cups shortening to 4# sugar. Your recipe uses 4 1/4 cups fat to 4# sugar. Maybe you could just use less fat in the recipe.

I haven't used one for my cakes, but this past weekend, I made a gluten free brownie recipe from Ellen Brown's "Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies" book. It called for a peppermint frosting that crusted very well and was very good (and I'm generally "anti" powdered sugar based icing, as I use only meringue buttercreams ). Here is her recipe (without the peppermint oil and red food coloring it uses for this particular recipe):

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat butter, sugar and cream until light and fluffy.

This makes a very little bit, because it was for a small 9"x9" pan of brownies. I would guess that if you don't want it too sweet, you could substitute 1/2 of the powdered sugar with corn starch, which I've done before in other powdered sugar icing recipes.

Crusting depends on the ratio of fat to sugar. It doesn't matter if it's all butter or not, if it's the right ratio it will crust.

That said, I use a recipe from Jeff Arnett, which you can find under his upside down method tutorial. It's 1 lb of butter, 1 c of shortening, 2 lbs of sifted powdered sugar, hot whipping cream, and 2-3 tbs vanilla.

I think it crusts, but I've never used anything besides a scraper to smooth out this BC. I usually use IMBC but I use Jeff's recipe when I do cakes for children or I need something a little more heat stable.

If you practice with a scraper, you won't need any of that other stuff to smooth. I would pull my hair out going over a cake with a Viva, a foam roller, parchment, printer paper, etc.

Thank you all so very much for your wonderful recommendations and suggestions! I'm sure you can all guess what I'll be doing this weekend!! Off to the market I go!!!

Happy Caking, wish me luck????

Try Sugar Shack's again but add some popcorn salt to it. Start out with 1 teaspoon, taste it, and add more as you prefer. I do this with many of my buttercream recipes and I get lots of compliments on how it isn't too sweet, which is many people's complaint.

Oh yeah, definitely add salt when making any American Buttercream. I use a good palm-full, maybe about two teaspoons or so. I add it during the creaming process.