Bridal Shower Cupcakes and a Buttercream Icing Recipe for Dummies

I think I'm getting the hang of this decorating thing.  And had I had more time to prefect the icing technique last Saturday they would have turned out perfecto.  I must say I was pleased with the final result.  I used my go to cupcake recipe and kept the suckers just plain white (I still need to figure out how soon to take them out to ensure they don't brown at all).

I just realized, while trying to link back to the recipe, that I have never posted the go to cupcake recipe.  I will save that for next week.  For now you'll have to just eat the icing without the cupcake.  I promise it's yummy.  I can't believe I haven't shared it yet.  Except I would have sworn (but I don't swear) that I have shared it.  Maybe it disappeared?  That also means I need to share/or reshare (if it did in fact disappear) my original icing recipe. 

As I referenced last week, I had a little bit of a warm kitchen problem with Martha's Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  This left me with no icing for the lovely cupcakes I had made for Jessica's bridal shower. My plan was to take two tubs of premade icing, whip them up with a beater (to make them appear homemade) and call it a day.  But on the way to Ft. Wayne, my baking conscious was getting the better of me and I decided to make my own.  After a quick stop at the always classy Van Wert Wal-Mart I was ready to create. 

I decided to go with a simple buttercream. Thank you Wilton! I made two batches (in one teeny bowl) which turned out to be morethan enough for our 40 cupcakes. 

Buttercream Frosting

Here's what you'll need
1/2 cup butter (maybe not quite room temperature)
1/2 cup crisco (yummy, huh?)
1 pound powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (or whatever flavor you fancy)
a few tablespoons of milk

Here's what you do
In a large bowl, cream butter and crisco.  Add vanilla. 

Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, while mixing at a medium speed.  Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl often to ensure everything is mixing together (no one wants a clump of butter in their icing!).

Once all of the sugar is mixed in the icing will seem pretty stiff.  Just add some milk and beat until light and fluffy.

At this point I added the smallest touch of blue food coloring to tint the icing a soft blue. 

Now you can ice up the cupcakes and enjoy (just as soon as I share that recipe) or in this case you may want to store in a refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.