I have grainy buttercream Someone please help what am I doing wrong. I have used the sugarshack recipe and its great but never smooth.

What type of shortening are you using?

Hi! I can help!

The first thing I'd check is the quality of your powdered sugar/confectioners sugar. Look for a bag that says '10x' on it. This mean it has been sifted 10 times in the factory. The cheaper the sugar, the less times it has been sifted..

Do you have a kitchen aid type standing mixer? Assuming you do... here are some tips:

1) Start with room temp butter (15 seconds in the microwave will get it there from out of the cooler).
2) Cream the butter on #2 speed and slowly add the Crisco in so it can combine nicely.
3) Once those are creamed (1-2 min), turn down your mixer to the slowest speed and start adding your liquid (milk, water, flavoring, etc). Run your mixer for another min or so and you'll see it get really creamy.
4) Now move on to powders or dry ingredients. Meringue powder and powdered sugar is common. Add those slowly, so they can incorporate nicely. Run the mixer for about 2 minutes, once everything is in the bowl.

So basically, start with quality ingredients. Then check your process: cream your fats, add the liquid to that and then slowly add the powder. The mixer should run continuously throughout the full process for the best results. Try this and let me know if it helps! Good luck!

Often times grainy buttercream is a bad batch of powdered sugar. Make sure the bag says cane sugar. The cheaper brands often include beet sugar. Since I switched to name brand powdered sugar I've never had the problem again.

All powdered sugar recipes with shortening are grainy, 10x included. If you don't like it, you need to change the type of frosting you use.

This is a personal taste issue. Those who like shortening/ps frosting sometimes don't know what we are talking about when we refer to "grainy", but it is the exact word that is always used..

My recipe includes poured fondant as I would never make a frosting with shortening. It satisfies that ultra sweet taste that some prefer while providing a smooth, non-gritty base of real butter and poured fondant.

Pm if you are interested, but it does require some simple sugar work similar to IMBC sugar syrup.

10X sugar does not mean it's sifted 10 times in the factory. 10x refers to the size of the sugar grains. Powdered sugar is made by grinding sugar with a little cornstarch to prevent caking and also increases shelf life. 6X is the largest grain, 10x is smaller, 12X is smaller still.

Also high volume bakeries generally consider 6X powdered sugar to be better because it has less cornstarch in it. The sugar grains, being larger than 10X
aren't likely to stick together. The result is a smoother buttercreme.