Can anyone tell me if it's possible to get a crusting buttercream without the use of shortening and just with butter. Would the addition of some meringue powder help it crust. I really like the viva method but hate shortening.

Thanks!

-d

http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=138706&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

That is the link to Chasey's All Butter Buttercream on Wilton's recipe forum. It does crust and tastes great! It does not use meringue powder. That doesn't actually help it to crust, just stabilizes the BC so colors are less likely to run.

Thanks so much! I'm going to have to play with that later this evening!

D

Just replace the shortening with butter in a shortening recipe. Butter might have more water than shortening so you may have to add a bit more powdered sugar, but it's the ratio of fat to sugar that makes the icing crust.