That's a tough question, but a little lemon juice sometimes helps.
I use the 1/2 crisco 1/2 unsalted butter with 1/8 teaspoon salt recipe, hope this helps
IMBC is italian meringue buttercream. Martha Stewart has a good recipe on her website. Definitely leave in the vanilla. You can add a bit of salt and sift it with the rest of the sugar. Try the recipe I posted. It doesn't taste too sweet to me and dh will actually eat it.
You can also try adding 1/4 tsp or so of rum extract to the icing. THat will definitely cut the sweet taste without overpowering the vanilla. I personally use 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp. butter flavoring AND 1/2 tsp. almond extract....everyone tells me it's some of the best icing they've ever had.
sorry mel i dont know what imbc is??? I use half butter half crisco i do put vanilla in it should i cut that out and add salt.
No, don't cut out the vanilla, just use salted butter or dissolve the salt in the liquid you add or use finer popcorn salt.
This may still result in a too sweet icing for your tastes. In addition to the Italian Meringue Buttercream suggested, you may want to try the Whimsical Bakehouse Buttercream.
Hugs Squirrelly
This is still sweet, but I think less sweet. Recently to a non-cooked buttercream recipe I added a dash of salt, and I substituted Cointreau (orange flavored liquour) for the vanilla.
Not sure really, but I think the vanilla adds to the sweetness.
I am also searching for a less sweet recipe... just haven't dared the Italian Buttercream yet.
..you might also consider trying a Dream Whip Icing. Here is a link to a recipe:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-5571-.html
I had been adding dashes of salt to my buttercream, but I had one client still saying it was too sweet. (It's icing, hellooooo) At my cake club, the topic came up and two of the members said to add up to one tablespoon of cake flour to a six-cup icing recipe. I tried it and it works great. It doesn't alter the taste except to make it less sweet, which is just what the client wanted. I never would have thought of that on my own.
Deanna
Since I only make cakes for family & not "profit", I sometimes use a recipe from the TASTE OF HOME magazine that is really delicious & yet not too sweet. It doesn't seem to "crust" but I just put it in the refrigerator if I need to & it does really well for me. (Besides, I can always "touch up" if I need to & if it doesn't crust like buttercream. 
)
5 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, softened--I use salted butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine the milk gradually with the flour in a small saucepan & heat on low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cover & refrigerate until chilled. In a mixing bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar & vanilla until creamy. At chilled flour/milk mixture and beat for 10 minutes.
I use this mostly for frosting the cake, but have also used it to color & decorate cakes with, too. The only thing to watch out for is MAKE SURE YOU GET ALL THE LUMPS OUT OF THE FLOUR or it could stop up your smaller tips.
Also, if you do use buttercream for decorating, it doesn't overpower you with SUGAR.
-bakersofcakes
Bakesrofcakes...that is the recipe I use for the Red Velvet cake, I can't imagine that holding up at all for decorating.....it has a definately different texture to it.
Actually, I've seen it in a recipe for Red Velvet Cake before, too.
I've had pretty good results for family b-days/special occasions. I've written on it/with it, added borders, & decorated with it. I've even made daisies with it for a Mother's Day cake (just piped the petals directly onto the cake). I usually go ahead & refrigerate it though. It definitely wouldn't work for stacked/tiered cakes, but I do mostly sheet cakes & 2-4 round layers at a time. I use it when the family doesn't want sweet buttercream icing.
-bakersofcakes
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