Buttercream Icing

I finally took the cake decorating class that I'd always wanted to and I learned how to make real buttercream icing!  This is the good stuff.  The big thing you need to know is what consistency you are trying for- you need a stiff consistency for flowers, medium for writing and balloons or most other things, and a thin consistency for frosting the whole cake.  You can also experiment with subbing in butter instead of shortening, but then it will affect the color of your final produce.  But butter...mmm.  Half butter and half shortening might be a winning combo.  All butter sometimes makes it too runny to write or decorate with but you could probably still frost the cake.  If you're picky about the color that you want, then you need to make sure and use white vegetable shortening (I usually buy the butter flavored which is yellow and will affect the color) and clear vanilla (again, the normal stuff is kind of brownish so buy clear if you want pure colors).  Also, watch out for the powdered sugar.  I'd assumed that a bag is a pound, and it turns out it is two pounds!  Broke my hand mixer learning that the hard way. :-)

Buttercream Icing
1 C. solid white vegetable shortening
1 tsp. vanilla extract, clear is best
7-8 tsp. milk (or water, I always use milk)
1 lb. powdered sugar
pinch of salt, optional

Chocolate Buttercream
Add 3/4 C. cocoa powder or 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate squared and an additional 1-2 Tbsp water.