trans fat shortening help for buttercream

Give it a chance. My buttercream is half butter, half shortening, and when I changed to the transfat shortening I found very little perceivable difference in flavor and texture. 

Quick...................put a heaping tablespoon of flour in the icing and extra flavorings.  This is the hint that Crisco published on their site when all of us were crabbing about the newly reformulated shortening.  Depending on how large the batch is, you may need two heaping tablespoons.

One alternative to hi-ratio shortening is butter.... which contains NATURAL transfat, vs synthetic transfat. Most who have worked hard to eliminate transfat have done so by eliminating both hi-ratio shortening and butter. If you are not opposed to transfat, then try substituting a stick or two of butter to your recipe. My preference, using my favorite buttercream recipe, is 1 pound of butter plus 10 oz shortening plus 10 oz hi-ratio shortening.

You can also use recipes that incorporate other sources of transfat.... including Dream Whip, or artificial creamers, etc.

When I use American buttercreams (those using powdered sugar), I prefer those containing transfats. If you use one of the European buttercreams, then it becomes a non-issue (because they're LOADED with butter :))

 While I typically use a 50/50 mix of butter and margarine in cookie dough, for frosting, I've never used (or even imagined using) anything but 100% butter.

And the one time I did need a dairy-free frosting, I made a fat-free glaze.

(And this whole subject reminds me of an extremely dirty locker-room joke involving the comparative effects of butter and shortening, a joke I'll not repeat here.)