I Love Buttercream Frosting

I'm not much of a fancy baker and am not one to make up new recipes or experiment with food.  Pretty much I just plain ol' don't like to cook.  But I like to eat and since there's nobody else around that's going to cook for me, I do what I can.  I'm a good cook and what I do cook tastes good, I just don't enjoy the process.

Anyway, the past couple of months with it's events and occasions have presented the "opportunity" for me to frost a lot of cakes and cupcakes.  I used to just buy Betty Crocker or Pillsbury frostings and be done with it, but I wanted different colors and decided the best way to do that was to make it myself.

For the first couple of batches, I used a recipe that Meagan found for me on some woman's cake decorating blog.  As her base, she uses shortening.  It's good, but it's a little to greasy tasting to me.  So, I found another recipe and tweaked it a bit and I think it is wonderful.  I could (and have) eaten it by the spoonfuls.

This recipe will generously frost about 30 cupcakes.

1 cup of unsalted butter (two sticks), about room temperature
1 cup of shortening
8 cups of confectioners sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. table salt
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
Up to 8 Tbs. milk or heavy cream

Beat butter and shortening together with mixer on medium for a few minutes.  Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and with your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere), mix until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Add the rest of the sugar while mixing.  Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 1 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.  If the frosting is too stiff, add milk/cream one tablespoon at a time until you reach the consistency that you want. 

I'm sure this could be made without the salt, but I wouldn't recommend it.  That little bit of salt adds just the right touch so that while you're eating it, you get that little hint of salty/sweet that makes this so enjoyable to savor.  Yum!