Buttercream Without Shortening For Piping
Baking By GingerCinNC Updated 15 Jul 2009 , 1:11am by Elise87
Hi! I'm new to the forum but not new to cake decorating. I will be making my son's first birthday cake later in the summer. If you have a buttercream without shortening that you love will you share the recipe please? I need a buttercream that can be piped, I'll be making a Donald Duck cake. Thanks so much.
Ginger
Here is the one i have been using to cover and fill my cakes and also pipe with it too. It's a basic buttercream recipe that i reckon tastes great:
CRUSTING BUTTERCREAM
250g unsalted butter, softened
500g icing sugar
4 tsp boiling water
*optional: 1 tsp vanilla essence
Beat butter with mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating well after each addition. Add the water and beat well.
Chocoloate version: Beat in 30g of sifted cocoa
HTH 
Elise - does this butter cream taste very "buttery?"
Elise - does this butter cream taste very "buttery?"
Funny thing is the first time i made a buttercream i used a weird recipe and when i tasted it, it tasted like pure butter and me thinking that was how buttercream was suppose to taste i thought everone was crazy for raving on about how much they like buttercream 
lol
Then i found this proper recipe and now i like buttercream
Just make sure you beat the butter really well cose the more you cream the butter the whiter it will become and the less likely it is to taste buttery and adding falvouring too helps.
So there is always going to be that slight butter taste of course but i personally don't really like the taste of butter but i like this buttercream cose it's not overly buttery tasting 
Thanks, Elise - I can't wait to give it a try!
no worries but remember it won't be a pure white colour cose it's butter but like a very pale sort of ivory colour but that never bother's me and most of the time i am adding colour anyway. But like i said the more you beat the butter the paler it will end up....ok i'll stop talking now lol
Hope you like it
quite frankly, I'm more interested in the taste than the off-white color, so I'm not worried about that. thanks again!
Bonnie, if you make this frosting before I have a chance to would you post your thoughts on the taste?
absolutely. I'm planning to try it tomorrow. In case I forget to post, just PM me.
Elise - thanks again for posting this recipe. I tried it yesterday.
I was pleased - it didn't taste overly buttery and it did crust nicely. I just had one small taste (I gave the cake to a friend) and didn't get the chance to see how it piped... The recipe only makes a small amount, so I only had barely enough for a base coat of a 2-layer 9" square cake (that was then covered in fondant). I added a small amount of almond extract to it. It was not white, as Elise warned - it was more a pale yellow color.
I will definitely try it again, and I will double the recipe next time.
Bonnie, thanks for sharing your experience.
Elise, I plan to try your recipe this weekend.
yeh sorry the recipe doesn't make much so i usually make twice the amount too.
What i wrote was just the amounts they said in the book recipe and just wrote it on here straight from that without doubling it for what i use, sorry.
But anyway glad u thought it was good
i'll just post it again just cose lol
CRUSTING BUTTERCREAM (larger quantity)
500g unsalted butter, softened
1kg icing sugar
8 tsp boiling water
*optional: 2 tsp vanilla essence
Beat butter with mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating well after each addition. Add the water and beat well.
Chocoloate version: Beat in 60g of sifted cocoa
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