What do I need to do to correct the consistency of my buttercream? The problem is that is comes out like a whipped consistency and it makes it hard to get smooth. The whipped effect makes it hard to fill in the holes if that makes sense and get a good covering on the cake, even with a crumb coat.

Do I need to add more liquid, am I mixing too long or not enough?

And I do use the Melvira method at the end, I'm just not getting good coverage prior to that.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

It sounds to me like you might be whipping it too long or too hard. Cream your butter or shortening or whatever you used good first then after adding sugar and rest of ingredients only mix for about 3-5 minutes to incorporate it all. Try mixing on a slower speed so as not to whip so much air into it. You can also try microwaving it to soften it and then stir with a spatuala to help get out the air bubbles.

I have a KA and I only use the first 2 settings generally. I will try the microwave trick next time and see if that does anything for me.

Thanks for responding!

are you useing the "new" crisco? if so and you are not using any butter that might be your problem i have had to add real butter to my bc since they took the transfat out of crisco. I was having a problem with the consitency it was too "mushy" and had lots of air bubbles.

I am actually using the Kroger brand shortening that has some trans fat. I switched to milk instead of water also and the consistency seemed better but still a little whippy. Here is the cake I finished yesterday and you can see on the sides where I can't get it totally smooth even using various smoothing techniques.

Thanks for anymore ideas and thoughts.........

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1033223.html