Wanna Lick the bowl?

Tonight, in preparation for a cupcake party my friend and I are hosting on Friday, I make a few batches of buttercream frosting and festively colored them. Its been awhile since I made any celebration/special occasion cakes that my previous co-workers raved about. So I’m getting back into my cake decorating groove and hopefully my skills will still be there!
Butter cream is a type of icing used inside cakes, as a coating, and as decoration. In its simplest form, it is made by creaming butter with icing or powdered sugar, although other fats can be used, such as margarine, shortening or even avocado. Colorings and flavorings are often added, such as cocoa powder or vanilla extract.

The buttercream frosting recipe I made doesnt really have exact measurements… I just go by the texture or stiffness to determine if its done. Here is what I used:

unsalted butter
shortening
vanilla extract
half & half
powdered sugar

In a stand mixer, cream equal parts of butter and shortening.
Add vanilla.
Alternate adding a splash of half & half and a cup of powdered sugar.
The consistency to achieve for decorating cakes is a “stiff” frosting.
If you can invert your batter bowl with a spatula or spoon suspended in the frosting without it falling out, you’ve hit the stiff consistency.