The Best Buttercream

Have you ever had to suffer through a grocery store birthday cake?  While the cake itself isn't that bad, what the heck do they make the icing out of? Pure vegetable shorting? Whatever it is,it doesn't taste good at all!  Here's a recipe that I hope you'll use for all your frosting needs.  It's creamy, not too sweet, easy to work with and holds up well in high humidity.

The Best Buttercream

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

4 cups Icing (Confectioners) Sugar, sifted

2 tbsp Milk

1 tsp Cornstarch

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl combine the shortening and butter with an electric mixer until light & fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix well.

2. Slowly add the sugar.  I sift it in about 1/2 cup at a time.  Mixing well in between.  Remember to scrap the sides & bottom of the bowl often. Once all the sugar has been combined the mixture will appear dry

3. In a small bowl stir the milk and cornstarch together until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add to the icing and mix on medium speed until light & fluffy.  Add any colouring at this point and decorate your heart out.

NOTES:  

             1.To change up the flavour a bit and to match your cake flavour feel free to substitute the vanilla for almond, orange, or mint extracts.

             2. This recipe will nicely cover a two layer cake.  If you're having more than two layers or have extensive piping/decorating plans I suggest doubling the recipe.  The cake pictured is 3 layers with thick icing in between the layers and light piping. I used a double recipe and had very little left over.

            3. This pink icing pictured is strawberry flavoured and not tinted at all.  I added a 1/4 cup of strawberry puree to about a 1 1/2 cups of the finished icing.  If you add a puree to your icing you may need to add more icing sugar to it just to keep the firmness.

Stay Sweet!

Tammy