Need a Recipe for Crisco-free Decorating Frosting

I use crisco in mine when making my own frosting. But more recently I've been buying already made frosting so I don't have to mess with it. I get mine from Hy Vee sometimes (local grocery store) also if you have a Michaels or some place that sells cake decorator supplies you can buy a tub of Wilton Buttercream frosting (white). Here it is about $12-14 per tub, but to me it is worth saving the time (and mess) of making my own.

Have you tried cream cheese frosting? Also, you need to add extra powdered sugar in small amounts to get the consistency that you desire. Make sure that the frosting peeks well. You should also work with the frosting while it is slightly chilled and don't overfill the bag. Room temp will be too soft if you are not using shortening.

You should try fondant. You can buy it pre-made or you can google it and come up with a billion or so recipes.

Now I don't know a lot about frosting or cakes or any of that business, but crisco grosses me out as well. BUT - if that is what you have been having the best luck with your frosting turning out - have you tried the crisco sticks? I buy the crisco butter flavored sticks for when I make banana bread, it works great and I don't have to dig nasty crisco out of a tub! I believe you can buy the regular crisco in sticks of well, it's just like butter sticks except bigger and softer and they come with these resealable plastic containers so you can put the leftovers in the fridge. I have always found it right next to regular crisco in the store. Now, if its the idea of crisco that grosses you out I can't really help you with that, but the sticks helped me get over the crisco stigma that I had. :)

S., I use a recipe for Buttercream Icing and it does have shortening in it but it stays firm enough to decorate with. I add more powdered sugar if I need it a little stiffer.
1 cup margarine
1 cup shortening
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 lbs. powdered sugar
6 Tbs. cold milk

blend shortening and margarine add other ingredients when adding milk add slowly to your desired consistancy.

Hope this helps, I decorate cakes also and do not like the pure crisco frosting. This one is great and I usually add Almond flavoring instead of the vanilla.

Hi S. -- Just use soft butter, sugar and a little vanilla. If that's too stiff, ad just a LITTLE bit of milk, about a half teaspoon at a time. You can tweak this by adding powdered cocoa or powdered cocoa and powdered coffee.

Good luck! L.

i dont have a recipe but i would contact a bakery in the area or a cake place. you should be able to purchase their frosting. i made my own wedding cake 2 days before my wedding and we purchased the whipped frosting from a bakery in cambridge and it worked very well for decorating and lasted good to.

I don't have a recipe other than you could try substituting butter for crisco in a recipe.

I was going to say that most bakeries use shortening in their buttercream which is why it is white and not yellowish. My guess is that purchasing buttercream from Sam's or Cub would be shortening. Check the ingredients before purchasing.

My mother and aunt used to do cakes and the last time they just used the canned frosting from the store and colored that. It stayed nice and didn't have the shortening taste.

a very easy tip: make the buttercream frosting ahead of time and refridgerate until quite firm. Then let it stand out on the counter for 10 minutes or so until it's loose enough to stir and spread. If you're piping, skip the warm-up time and go straight into the bag. Try wrapping a towel around the bag while you're piping to keep your body heat from softening the frosting too much. If it gets to runny again, pop it back in the fridge. My understanding is that this is what professional cake bakers do. Good luck!

Well, I have a recipe that I think works with decorating. I've used it all my life, but I don't have exact measurements, so you may want to experiment with this on a small scale first.

Ingredients:
powdered (confectioner's) sugar
butter
milk
vanilla
(add cocoa if you want chocolate frosting)

Use as much powdered sugar as you want there to be frosting. Say you have a cup of the powdered sugar....you may want to try 1/2 stick of butter, melted. Add vanilla to taste (about a teaspoon) and maybe 1/4 cup of milk. Mix. You'll be able to tell if you have the right amounts if it turns into a consistency you like. If it's too pasty, add more milk (and butter). It's easier to add milk to a dry mix than it is to add more powdered sugar to a wet mix, so go easy on the milk.

I wonder if Kefir (a runny yogurt) would work instead of milk? My friend just told me that it works as a sub. for milk in pancake recipes. See? I may have to do some experimenting myself.

Good luck. It's a super easy recipe and it may just turn into your favorite too. :)

I think Sam's Club sells their buttercream and whipped frostings in all sorts of colors. You could try them.

I ran into the same thing after taking a cake decorating class. I found that by adding confectionary?sp sugar to regular frosting made it more stiff. I'd give that a try, I've only done it that way twice.

I use a buttercream frosting too. Mine was runny and I couldn't figure out why. I was using too much cream (actually skim milk..don't do that!) and I was melting the butter instead of softening it. It makes a HUGE difference! Now I have very thick tasty frosting with only butter, cream, powdered sugar and flavoring of your choice...I have also used a flavored coffee creamer in place of the milk and flavoring.

Good luck..hope that helps