For the last week I've been using Indydebi's bc and love the flavor, but have some questions about working with it. What consistency do you ice with? I'm always afraid to get it too thin but I'm having a little trouble smoothing it out without "ripping" it. It also seems to crust superfast, so by the time I finish the sides the top is crusted over and I can't smooth it without messing it up. I noticed hairline cracks in my cake this morning from where I put my sps in, I'm assuming from the crusting. When mixing, I try to keep the beater in the icing to stop the bubbles, but for some reason with this recipe it balls up on my beater even as I scrape the sides, and of course end up with bubbles. And finally, the Dream Whip is getting it closer to an ivory color than white, is this normal? Sorry for all the questions, I love love the flavor, and really want to work with it
Any tips? THANKS!!!

Any tips?

If it's crusting too fast, your fat/sugar ratio is off. Add a bit more crisco.

To thin it down, I add milk. if this is balling up on your beater (like cookie dough) it's definitely too thick. Add more milk.

I'm not sure what you mean by "keep the beater in the icing to stop the bubbles". When I make it, I don't cover the beater in icing, I stop the mixer and lift the beater out to check consistency. I've never thought about keeping the beater in there for any particular reason.

I beat the crisco, dream whip, milk, vanilla, and a cup or two of p.sugar until the crisco is pulverized into teeny tiny particles .... the mixture will look smooth as silk .... then add the rest of the sugar and more milk as needed.

I dont' worry too much waht it looks like while in the bowl .... It smooths out great on a cake, especialy when it's bench-scraped and Melvira'd.

Try it and pulverize the fat before adding all of the sugar and let me know how that works for you.

Ever since I discovered her icing, it's all I use. But I use half crisco and half butter, which slows the crusting just enough so I don't have it drying before I am done smoothing.

If the butter or dream whip imparts a yellow hue, I have heard of adding the tinniest touch of lavender to offset or better yet, pick up a bottle of that Super White stuff by Wilton. Costs $2.50 and works like a charm.

As for what consistency, I make it pretty much according to her directions and use heavy whipping cream instead of milk. I cover it with a wet towel as it mixes to slow crusting too.

Then I fill my pipe-a-dam bag and cover the remainder. When I am ready to crumb coat, I take a big glob in an oversized coffee mug and add a bit of warm water, then use that for the crumb coating.

So the bowl remains firm for piping, borders, dams, etc. but you can just pull out what you need for frosting and add a bit of liquid. ( Oh, and I use boiling water with the spatula to smooth. ) HTH

Awesome ladies, thanks! I will try out these tips this week!