Good evening. I use the Whimsical Bakehouse non-crusting buttercream recipe that is soooooo good. (6 Cups Confectioners' Sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 1 cup boiling water, 2 3/4 cup Hi-Ratio* or regular vegetable shortening, 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) butter) Not too sweet and very creamy. I'd like to keep that taste but try to get it to crust enough to use the Viva smoothing method. Is there anything I can add to give it a slight crust? Would adding meringue powder help? Thanks.

Instead of using just water. Use powered coffee creamer and water mixture. Works great for me. Good luck.

Oooh, I like the sound of that recipe Nicole5, in what order do you put it all together?

nicole5--How much powdered creamer should I use for 1 cup water?

One cup(boiling) water to one cup powdered coffee creamer. You use the water mixture the same as you would use water or milk to get the right consistency for your buttercream. Tip came from the Sugar Ed video. You can check out www.SugarEDProductions.com.
hope this helps.

You won't get anything with 2.75 cups of shortening (or is that 2.75 cups shortening and 1.5 cups better?) to crust unless you add a good 2lbs of powder sugar. That's be twice the amount of sugar in the recipe as is now, which will change the sweetness of it.

Crusting has to do with the sugar to fat ratio. The more sugar, the more it crusts. The more fat, the less it crusts.

A good starting ratio for crusting is 1 cup fat to 1lb (about 7.75 cups) powder sugar.