French Buttercream Frosting

"You CAN make flowers! I use this frosting recipe (slightly altered) on all my personal and retail cakes now. Not too sweet, light and fluffy and holds color and flavor well. To make flowers, etc, p..." See moreut the frosting in the fridge (best in a stainless steel bowl) for about 20 minutes, then beat on medium for about 15 seconds - viola! However, if you have warm hands like me, you need to be able to work a little fast. Once finished, refridgerate cake until an hour before serving. Unless drastic temperature change, colors won't bleed and decorations retain shape. HINT: add just a tad bit more flour to the cream mixture."

"This recipe has unreached potential. Spreading consistency was nice. However, the flour was noticeable in my first sample taste of the frosting. Also, I didn't use the butter extract because I don't l..." See moreike artificial ingredients. However, the large amount of real butter was overwhelmed by the shortening. I'm going to try the recipe again but with only 3 tablespoons flour and with butter in place of some of the shortening. Also, I doubled the amount of vanilla. I would also add at least 1/2 cup more powdered sugar. The recipe is a great starting place, just needs a little refinement."

"This was very close to what I was looking for. My friend is a professional baker and award winning designer. She has a "top secret" French Butter Cream frosting she uses and I have been trying to find..." See more something close. I think this is as close as I am going to get! I used regular butter (I did not have unsalted on hand) and butter flavored Crisco. There was enough to frost a 2 layer 8" round. It was smooth and creamy. It was not stiff enough to decorate with, unless whatever was not in the bag was put in the fridge. It was way too soft for flowers. I combined it with a regular shortening based buttercream for decorating. (I chose a basketweave on the sides and roses on top.) Thanks so much for a great recipe! P.S. It is wonderful on carrot cake. :)"