Buttercream Frosting Perfected

If you're anything like me as a mom and a baker, you're always looking for ways to make treats extra special with ease. Before reading some tips from the one and only Cake Boss, I found it easiest to get my frosting in a can and go from there. Now, I know that there are a few simple things to making the lightest, fluffiest, and tastiest homemade buttercream frosting.

First things first, ingredients:

1 pound of confectioners sugar
1 cup of butter flavored shortening (any shortening works, but this flavor is best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (clear works best, but if coloring frosting, any will do)
Milk

Start by sifting your confectioners sugar. This takes about two minutes to do, and will really help alleviate any lumps in the final frosting product. I always try to sift it directly into my mixing bowl. The reason for this is to help get rid of any excess air (more air means heavier frosting).

Sift a full pound of sugar

Sift well

For the next step, use your dough hook instead of whisk for mixing - this is another tip to help keep down the amount of air being mixed into your frosting. Put the dough hook in place prior to setting up your bowl, and then add all ingredients except for the milk. Begin mixing, and little by little add in milk and stop when it as your choice of consistency (I use about 4 teaspoons full. If you're wanting to do more than ice a cake - piping on letters, for example - start out with a teaspoon and then separate batches and add more for whatever else you happen to be doing).

The wonderfully versatile dough hook

Mix well until wanted consistency

Now that the frosting has actually been completed, try adding in a bit of color. Normally, I do this by dipping a toothpick into the color and dragging it through the frosting. For a deeper color, I will remove a chunk of the food coloring and mix on high. Once you are satisfied with the color, put into a piping bag and start making cute designs!

Use about 1/2tsp of color

Finit! 

Tips:

1. Use butter flavored shortening instead of regular - it really helps with the flavor.
2. Only use butter if you are simply frosting a cake. The butter taste is wonderful, but very difficult for decorating. This is true even if you decide to make buttercream frosting with butter and use a more stiff frosting for decorations - everything will simply slide.
3. Sift the confectioners sugar to avoid extra air pockets, and to make sure that there are no clumps in the finished product.
4. Instead of a regular whisk, use a dough hook to also keep the extra air from getting in. Make sure the dough hook is already in place before setting up your mixing bowl.