Buttercream icing made with shortening?

I had a few disasters with Buttercream today. Used it cold from the fridge then it curdled :( guessing it has to be really soft?

Anyway, I thought I'd be better with shortening. Easier to work with? I'm confused which to use. I've heard of frymaster, anyone used it before with any success? Can you put the iced cake in the fridge or leave out?

Thanks, I'm so clueless! DH is hassling me that I should've outsourced it :(

I use nuttelex and had much better results than butter. Shortening would work but it doesn't always taste as well, so if you use Nuttelex (found in the butter/margarine section of the major shops) its butter flavoured yet made from vegetable oils... so its inbetween vegetable shortening and butter.

My basic recipe for buttercream is: 4 cups icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 200 gm nuttelex. Then I add 1 tbsp at a time of water, until I reach the desired consistency. If I'm adding colouring, I add it while its a bit stiff.... then add more water after... 1 tsp at a time....

HTH!!!

I did have issues with curdling when using milk and butter as it was so tempermental. After I've gotten used to making buttercream, I'm happier with using butter and cream to get it right.

Is whipping normal butter and gradually adding icing (and vanilla Essenes if you want it) the same?
Cos that's how I do it :)

I did it twice and both times the butter curdled. I was wondering if it was because I used cold butter from the fridge?

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I did it twice and both times the butter curdled. I was wondering if it was because I used cold butter from the fridge?

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Yeah I always do it when the butter is room temp.. Still kinda weird it curdled tho? (i didn't even know it could!) Maybe you over whipped? It doesn't need much...

If making icing with shortening, you need to get the white shortening that is imported from the USA also known as Crisco. You can get it at any cake deco shops. It is not the same as the vegetable shortening you can buy at the supermarket here that you would normally use for cooking etc. If you can get your hands on the shortening from the USA it does make the icing so much more fluffy and even tastes nicer. Especially if you are wanting to make a white icing.

Are you putting melted butter in your buttercream? I learnt the hard way the other day it seperated the butter LOL!!!!

I always use my butter at room temp and beat it till its silky then gradually add the icing sugar :D

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Is whipping normal butter and gradually adding icing (and vanilla Essenes if you want it) the same?
Cos that's how I do it :)

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Thats how ive always been taught how to make it. I dont use milk.