Actually, you did answer all my questions--I feel like I hit the cake jackpot today! 
You've got me pondering all the possibilities, like potentially using butter-flavor Crisco to get the butter taste with the Crisco performance...hmmm...
I'm glad to know the dark Wiltons will be compatible with this cake recipe, and hopefully others--I'd actually avoided using them all these years, worried that I would compensate incorrectly for the different finish (I grew up using my grandma's shiny aluminum ones--for quality, they don't make them like that anymore!).
Like you, I always keep my cakes covered; I have one of those Tupperware-type plastic locking cake bonnets. I also have no problem with droopy frosting, mainly because if it starts to look less than pretty and no one else wants it, I can keep it all for myself 
But seriously? Custards?? Now you're really talking trouble--there's no way custard would last long enough in this house to ever get NEAR a refrigerator!! ("What do you mean, you're not supposed to eat it hot?!") The fight for the last spoonful would be epic....LOL
HAHAHA! Girl, you are crazy! Banana pudding is one of my favorite foods!
It is just my opinion, but I very much dislike the taste of butter flavored Crisco. I've used it in biscuits and think it is nasty. Never again for me! For this delicate almond cake, the butter flavor might even be a distraction. I certainly don't miss it. Done well (sometimes I get it perfect, sometimes not so much), this is the best cake I've ever eaten. It is also my daughter's favorite.
I have two Tupperware cake carriers and two old style aluminum ones which I love. I used to take cakes to work in my old aluminum one and the younger ladies thought it was so cute and quaint, but I thought it was super practical. The second one was an eBay find!
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