Best White Icing Ever

As a professional decorator, this icing is a great base. Most will think it too sweet and I agree but you can use 1/2 shortening (hi-ratio or Sweetex is best but crisco will work if that is all you can get) and 1/2 SALTED butter and add 1/4 tsp salt also (popcorn salt works best as the grains are smaller but regular table salt works fine if that is what you have), salt cuts the sweetness in icings!

This frosting was amazing! I used it to repair a store-bought cake that my mother dropped. It turned out beautiful and tasted great. My husband was teasing me about eating the icing by the spoonful. I used all butter in mine. I suspect that anyone who had a problem with the frosting tasting like shortening probably had shortening that was going bad from age. I learned from experience that if shortening is old, the flavor overpowers anything it's cooked in. Yuck! Anyway, this is definitely my new favorite icing recipe!

Very easy to make! My version is: I did 1/2 butter 1/2 shorting and only 3 cups of sugar. I also didn't fill the 1/2 cups all the way because I only had 20 cupcakes to frost. I also used 1 TB milk instead of water and added about 2 ts. concentrated defrosted canned OJ and orange marmalade (to taste-about 2 TB) to make an orange flavored frosting. You can even add a drop or 2 of orange food coloring! It turned out great!!!

I am not usually a fan of white frosting (DULL!) but I had to make some so I used this recipe. Except my Crisco was expired and I didnt have unsalted butter so I used two sticks of regular butter, 3 Cups of powdered sugar and a little extra milk and vanilla. OMG, it is SOO good. I dont know why everything calls for shortening in frosting recipes but the all butter alternative was WONDERFUL.

This is the recipe that we used when I took a cake decorating class. For the whitest icing make sure that you used CLEAR flavorings. (available at the wilton section at your store). The almond extract 1/2 tsp and butter flavoring 1/2 tsp is a nice addition to the vanilla. Make sure you chill it well if you are doing flowers.

I have been searching for a great icing recipe, and this one is awesome! I made it twice with half crisco/half butter and it turned out well. The third time I used ALL butter; I prefer butter over crisco. If you don't need it to be bright white, this works just as well and gives it a nice, buttery taste!

This is a great recipe. To make it healthier I use Spectrum Organic all veget. shortening which has no trans fat and is made with palm oil and has lots of the good polyunsat. and monounsat.fats.

This icing is terrible! it has NO taste but the taste of icing sugar and is not even creamy! will not make again.

I needed an icing to go with the Swedish Nut Cake I made (also from this site) and I choose this one. I didn't have the cream cheese and so I wasn't able to make the proper frosting. Definitely the wrong TYPE of icing for the cake I made, but the taste was amazing. I sometimes get cravings for birthday cakes, just for the icing. Now I can make my own at home. I used regular vanilla instead of the clear, and it came out bright white!! I didn't have to beat mine anywhere near five minutes, more like 2. I did add 2 more TBLS. of water so that may have been why. Thanks Meghan...this is so good!

This is just a beautiful frosting! Creamy, smooth, fluffy and delicious, perfect for piping and easy to mix up - just dump all the ingredients in a bowl and let 'er rip! I didn't need a pure white frosting so I used half butter and hi-ratio shortening, however, I've used all shortening many times and have no complaints of greasiness or the frosting being tasteless. Those who do have those issues might try using hi-ratio shortening, a pinch of salt which heightens flavors and a teeny bit of almond flavoring ('tho I prefer just the vanilla). And by all means make sure whatever shortening you're using is fresh and not rancid! (Or, take the extra steps and make the more complicated and fussy Italian, French or Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting...) I used an egg white for part of the water called for and then just added a teaspoon or two of water until I had the piping consistency I wanted. One recipe frosts two dozen cupcakes generously.

This was really easy to make and kids love it. The white color makes it a great foundation to decorate upon. I used it for cupcakes and it worked really well.

I have no idea why anyone would rate this anything but excellent. I have tried four different frosting recipes with each birthday cake I have made for my kids. This one not only was a great crumb layer, but when thickened made for terrific decorating. but the real stars belong to taste! my mother in law, a tough critic, RAVED about it. look no further.

This truly is the best white icing ever!! I changed the recipe by only using three cups of powdered sugar instead of 4. I also have found that I need to make 1 and a half of this recipe to ice a cake and decorate it. You really do have to beat it for 5 mins if you want it to turn out good...

Taste is disappointing. I make wedding cakes and wouldn't recommend this for flavor. Texture is okay.

Horrible taste! I used all shortening, like the recipe said and thats all it tasted like. I threw it all out.

4.2.12 ... https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8263/best-white-icing-ever/ ... This recipe made me happy & unhappy. I followed suggestions, subbed half butter (salted). Also, used half & half instead of water - so it would remain stable but soft. Ended up adding 4 3/4c sugar - a pound basically. Also added a scant fourth almond extract & scant fourth salt. Well, yum frosting. Similar to bakery/birthday cake type, BUT NOT WHITE WITH BUTTER. 'Should've known better, I agree. 'Followed review on that one, too. It looks white compared to butter frosting, sure; but if we're talking color? It isn't. I "need" PANDA WHITE. I am not kidding. :) This isn't panda white. It appears there will be more than one cake in my future. Oh, mine yielded about 3 1/2cups w a little help from the electric mixer. I don't see how 4 - 5 are possible unless you reeeeeallly whip it. 'Guess ya could. Oh, a little 411 if you're new to frosting: Whipping will lighten the color - artificial or not. Next day: 'Tried making whitewhite frosting w/o butter, subbing sour cream & shortening. Not good. Even added 2T butter & still, not good. 'Ended up using this lessthanPandawhite frosting & everyone liked it. I'll keep looking for white that you can eat though! :D

greasy , flavourless,tastes like cheap grocery store frosting! Quick and easy not a good trade off, i would rather take more time and NOT use shortening as the base fat, better tose cream cheese, butter or some kind of mix of both or a egg white or whipping cream type.......

Icing was very very easy to make. The first time I followed the recipe, it was really bland so I had to add more sugar and vanilla, but there was still something missing....just tasted like I was eating sugar flavored Crisco...

This is great icing. Good consistency and is simple to make. I didn't have clear vanilla extract so I used the brown and couldn't tell any change in the color. Yummy!

This made a greasy, tasteless icing that quickly dried out. It leaves an unpleasant coating on your tongue. It is also overly sweet. I happen to like the icing on most grocery store cakes, but this isn't it. This was purely a waste of time and ingredients.

Been looking for some good white icing forever and I have finally found it!! I tried this recipe as is--yuck. It was awful. One star. Then I re-did it with three cups of sugar, tablespoon of milk, half butter and half shortening. SO yummy!!

3 stars because I had to modify the recipe. I used 1 cup of softened unsalted butter and the full 4 cups of icing sugar. I used milk instead of water, then added another 2 - 3 tbsp to thin it out. After making the icing, and being dissatisfied with the sweetness, I read some more reviews, and added approx. 1/4 tsp of salt. It really cut the sweetness, and made it taste more like icing and less than sugar. I also had to work with the icing quite a bit to get rid of the graininess (yes, I was using icing/confectioner's sugar, not granulated).

I LOVED this icing. I used all butter instead of shortening and cut down the sugar to 3 cups instead of using the 4. I couldn't stop eating it; it is the best icing ever!

The flavor is ok, but it practically melted when I put it on my completely cooled cake!

This was exactly what I was looking for. Just like the icing at the bakery my kids love. I think the key was beating it for the full 5 minutes. I used the 10 setting on my kitchenAide with the whip attachment and the icing was fluffy and perfect for piping onto cupcakes. Thanks!

Followed directions exactly but it didn't taste good and left a bitter taste in my mouth. We made it for my daughter who has a lot of food allergies, and she took one taste and said it was icky, she wouldn't touch her cupcake again till we cut the top off. We through away the doll cake I made for her and the rest of the frosting. Also, though it held it's form, it wasn't easy to spread smooth, so the decorating looked sloppy. I used a buttercream recipe for the rest of the cupcakes and it was much easier to work with.

My family did not care for this frosting; it was way to sweet! It did work well for decorating, but no one would eat the finished cake! It also colored very nicely; for these reasons, I give it two stars. I'm sorry, but I will not be making this frosting again.

I did not care for this recipe.

This is the BEST & easiest white icing I've ever used!! I made this for my son's 1st b-day cake (it was a puppy) and it just made the cake! The icing was delicious & had everyone raving about the cake. I added 2 extra TBS water like suggested & it was the perfect consistency for icing the cake. I had to double the recipie, though...which was no big deal. I will be using this from now on! Thank you sooo much for sharing!

this recipie did not work and it was terrible i was making a get well cake for my dad and he almost threw up but mabey i did it wrong oh well i will try it agian another day mabey i did the wrong ingridiands

Horrible, threw the whole thing away. The shortening gave out a bad taste but then its probably just my shortening. Too sweet, not to mention. Won't make it again.

This is my standard frosting, and it is based on a the Wilton recipe. It is infinitely adaptable. I add 1 teaspoon of almond extract and use regular vanilla extract (Adam's Best).

I will admit that I am a baking snob but this fell FAR below my expectations for a basic white icing recipe. Will never use again.

This is a very good icing. I've used it for every decorator cake I've done. Use half and half instead of water. The consistency is much better. Also, I use lemon or almond extract in place of the vanilla. Good for flowers and other fancy touches. Just add more powdered sugar so that the flowers will hold up better.

Really good but also really sweet! I cut the recipe wayyy back because I only needed enough frosting to frost a cake. I also used 1/2 shortening and 1/2 *salted* butter. I added just a tiny pinch of salt after tasteing it, that cut back the sweetness, and after that the frosting was very very spoon lickable! Thanks for sharing!

Im sorry but this is the worst icing EVER!

I really liked this icing, I made it for my husband's birthday cake and it really whipped up fluffy and light. I used 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening and it still stayed nice and white.Wonderful flavor,I put it on a Hershey Recipe Black Forest Cake.Simply delicious

I substituted butter for the shortening. How can butter, sugar and vanilla go wrong? Of course it was delicious!

Very nice recipe. You need to play with it so you can get the texture and taste that you are looking for, but for a start is GREAT. Thanks. Jay

After adding extra water (2 tbs.) and vanilla (1 tsp.), I got it to the right consistancy. I used butter flavored shortening instead of plain, it gave it a yellowish color but looked great with the pink sprinkles I used.

I think the suggestion to use 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter with some salt made this recipe absolutely perfect

Light, creamy, just sweet enough--YUMMY!

Really easy to make. Not too sweet. I used butter instead of shortening and regular vanilla extract and added food colouring. Turned out great. Will for sure make it again.

This icing was not very good...it left a funny flim of shortening on your tongue and i used waaaay more icing sugar than the recipe called for. It was a great consistancy for decorating and with more icing sugar was ediable, but without the added icing sugar it tasted terribe.

I really enjoyed this icing. It was very easy to make and turned out GREAT. ~A tip though if you are using it just for icing; you don't need 1 full cup of shortening, I used 3/4 a cup and that was more than enough. I also used 1/4 cup of water, and some milk to make it the consistency I preferred. And lastly, I used about 3 tsp of vanilla, just so it had a little more taste. I will use this recipe again, and I would reccomend it especially if it is your first time making frosting. Thank you for this recipe Meghan! :)

Definitely is the foundation of a great Icing.... I used coconut oil instead of shortening, also added coconut powder... gives that yummy coconut flavor and when i frosted it i drizzle it with coconut flakes.... like snow balls... on black forest chocolate cupcake.... yum

I followed the recipe exactly, but it was like eating plain sugar. It's entirely too sweet.

I can see this being a useful decoration icing... but... if you are looking for flavor, it is not very sweet or creamy and the shortening gives it strage taste.

I used this recipe for the first time yesterday. It was very good. I did add an extra 1/2tsp of vanilla extract. I used real vanilla extract, not the clear imitation. So it had an ivory color. The texture was perfect. It received many compliments from my guests. I'd definitely use it again. As some others stated it was very sweet. That is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

By the time you alter this recipe to make it palatable, you would be better off using another one, or one of your own. I followed all directions to the tee, but this recipe, left a lot to be desired.

Great consistency for decorating! I used all butter instead of shortening. Be sure the butter is at room temp, and beat on high for a couple of minutes. Fluffy, sweet and delicious.

used all salted butter no shortening, increased vanilla, and added 1/4tsp salt, only used 3C powdered sugar, and thinned with additional milk for spreading. This was great not too sweet because of the salt, perfect for us.

This recipe was GREAT... but I did not follow it to a tee... i used 1/2 tsp almond extract and only 3 cups of the sugar and it tasted wonderful... it was still pretty sweet so I can see how using 4 cups would make it VERY sweet.. highly recommend the almond extract

Awesome recipe. Easy to make, versatile and tastes good. I added a little lemon zest to the recipe to frost lemon cupcakes...absolutely divine. The basic recipe is great and I'll try other variations as well. The possibilities are endless when you have such a simple base.

Need help new baker. How do you measure out the shortening if using out of the can? Or can i use the oil instead? Same for the butter can i melt it?

I'm about to gain 20 pounds. I sort of wish I'd gone my whole life not knowing I could make this icing from stuff I already have in my kitchen! It tastes absolutely exactly the same as the icing on the cakes from the grocery store bakery! I'm in love! I did sub half butter, at the suggestion of several other reviewers. It's not bright white, but I'm not picky about that.

Very Good! However, be careful, the icing is very stiff, and hard to spread. If you are afraid that you might "peel" up the cake, then you might want to add a little water.

NOPE!

This icing turned out perfect. I used it as an icing on a white layer cake and it worked wonderfully. Better than I expected and so simple.

Beautiful looking icing. Consistency was wonderful. Quick, easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand. I sifted my powdered sugar in one bowl, then creamed my wet ingredients with the shortening in another bowl and added my powdered sugar, heaping tablespoon, one at a time to mix thoroughly for 5 minutes. My only complaint is that it was to gritty sweet for my taste, but looks great on a cake and was easy to make.If you like sweet icing, this one's for you.

This worked great for decorating with a star tip on an Easter cake. The only thing I did differently was to add lemon extract instead of vanilla because it was a lemon cake :)

very good, but it had a weird taste. i ended up using clear imitation coconut extract, instead. that gave it a more 'frosting-like' taste.

Great, also works with butter (if you don't need a pure white icing). Use your finest beater in the mixure, so it beats smooth, beat on high and several minutes, and for God's sake, don't forget to SIFT THE POWDERED SUGAR. Not doing so is how you end up with lumps. You can also pre-dissolve it in a tiny bit of the water, if you are careful. However you prepare it, if it's too runny just gradually add some more powdered sugar. Logic!

This frosting was fast and easy and made a beautiful, white frosting. I added food coloring to some reserved frosting and piped decorations with it. Worked great. It tasted good, too. Even my husband liked it, and he hates frosting.

This is a decent icing. It's reminiscent of Oreo cookie filling, but the consistency is odd because of the shortening. It doesn't melt in your mouth the way butter-based icings do.

This recipe is just fantastic! I was afraid to use it because I normally don't like shortening based frostings, so I took other's suggestions and did half butter and half shortening. I also used milk instead of water, and only used 1 tbs milk but I used almost 1 tbs of clear imitation vanilla, because imitation isn't as strong as the real stuff. But this was just great, the first recipe for frosting I actually LOVED the first time I tried it! most of the other recipes I have to fiddle around with for a half hour. Oh I also whipped the butter and shortening for about 5-7 minutes and added the milk and vanilla, it helps absorb the flavor of the vanilla better and makes for a smoother frosting. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!

This icing is good, but you need to use milk in place of water to have something to "bind" it together (the fat in the milk) otherwise, your icing can separate leaving you with a big mess.

A great quick icing, very white! I used it for cupcakes not decorating. Also I used regular vanilla and it came out just as white. Thinking about trying to add fruty flavors.

Hi, again this a recipe I have always used for my decorator frosting except that I also add at least 1 tsp. of almond flavoring. It takes it over the top!! Please try and enjoy!!!

not a recipe I would use for decorating cookies or muffins. But I used all shortening. Using half butter like she said might help. It tastes like the sugar roses they put on top of cakes.

Great to decorate cakes using a piping bag. I did have to add more liquid to the icing though. Just bit by bit until it would pipe out better. I didn't find it too sweet compared to my usual recipe.

Very Unusual Icing - didnt taste like icing - blah tasting - wont be using this again.

My daughter made this recipe last week for some cupcakes she was baking. She did all the research and cooking on her own so I didn't even see the recipe for the frosting ahead of time. I tasted it as she was frosting the cupcakes and did not like it at all. I took one look at the recipe and figured out why - all shortening? It had that chemical taste to it (and the shortening was not old) plus it was incredibly sweet. While it did have a good texture for frosting, I prefer something that has a butter base. Only one out of my four kids liked the frosting - the others scraped it off. Interesting to note that of the few reviews I read that give it 4/5 stars, they ALTERED the recipe and used at least a portion of butter. I hate when people change the recipe around, but still give it 4/5 stars. When there's such a big alteration in order to make the recipe work, it doesn't deserve high praise.

Perfect! I cut the sugar down to 3.5 cups and added .5 cups of cocoa powder and whipped it (adding water to get the consistency that I wanted) and it is perfect! Not too sweet, not too chocolate-y

YAY!! I am soooo happy! I've been looking for a frosting recipe to cover my cakes, and I've tries a million that all went wrong. I was going to give up when I tried this one. It went perfectly!!! I only used 2 and a half cups of sugar, and a little more than tsp of vanilla. Great recipe! This is a keeper!!

really good, you can add cocoa to it too

Great stiff icing for decorating. I do like half butter and vegetable shorting for taste.

I used Splenda that had been run in the food processor for this recipe to make it sugar free and it turned out wonderful! I also just used extra vanilla instead of water and added a splash of rose water. It came together really quick, but i let it beat with the wisk attachment for the full 5 min and it is so fluffy and creamy! Anyhow, this one is going into the recipe box :)

Can't say it took 5 minutes to get this to be frosting. Beautiful consistancy, added some cream to thin a bit. sets up very quick and looks great when done. I used 1/2 butter, 1/2 butter flavored crisco. Tasted great the next day but taste quality goes down with time. Eat it quick and you'll be satisfied.

I loved it...this was like the best icing ever!!!When I first tried making it I wasnt paying close enough attention to the recipe and used regular sugar instead .Anyone else who gave this recipe a bad rating probably had the same problem....(the second time it was great!!!!)I LOVED IT! I agree with another review i saw for this recipe ...I dont understand how anyone could rate this anything but excellent !!!:)

I make this a lot with the "White Almond Wedding Cake" recipe on here. I'm now the "famous" family member who brings the best cakes to every get together. I use all butter instead of the shortening. I have made cupcakes out of these recipes as well and taken to events. People have asked me if they could make orders for their kids birthdays and if I own a bakery. You can't go wrong with this recipe.

If you are looking for recipe for cake decorating this is the one!!! I had tried many different recipes but none have ever turned out as great as this recipe!!! It was easy to make, tasted great, and worked excellent when decorating the cake!!!

This was the best icing ever. Not to sweet and it kept it's consistancy.

I had to try twice to succeed with this recipe. Beating it for 5 minutes made it all warm and lumpy; you could feel the sugar! But the second time I mixed it for a minute (approx.)and it came out perfect and fluffy!

Too chalky. I am not much of an expert on icing, though, so I admit that I may not have done something correctly.

What an easy icing to make!! I did reduce the powdered sugar to 3 cups, and added 1-2 cup cocoa to make it chocolate. This is a keeper! Thanks

This recipe needs to be modified quite a bit to taste good. Use at least 8 cups of confectioners sugar and 2 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of almond extract. Add some salt to taste, and it will take more water to get it to the consistancy to spread on a cake. Keep tasting till you get it lke you want it.

This frosting has ALWAYS been my favorite! Many of the bakeries that had my "favorite cake" used this. Until now, I didn't know how to make it. This IS the best ever!

Good basic icing.

I was impressed. I have also enjoyed experimenting with alternate flavours. Yummy.

Very simple and delicious for cupcakes. I used half butter, half crisco. I also used milk instead of water and upped it to 3 Tbsp for a slightly creamier texture. Would need to double the recipe for a layer cake.

Very nice recipe! The icing was a bit stiff so I added a little extra water (I used hot water)till it was the perfect consistency for decorating my son's birthday cake. I will use this recipe many times in the future I am sure!

definitely don't like it...should've used butter instead...no taste to it!

this is a great fluffy icing, the whipped fluffiness made it a little hard to use to decorate a cake though. The best part is its not too sweet and lactose free for my son.

I took the advise of some other reviewers and used less powder sugar as well as using some butter in place of some of the crisco and I gotta say, this stuff is gooooood. Not too sweet in my opinion. Just right :)

I followed all the directions, and it was still too stiff, even after whipping for over 5 minutes. I thinned it just slightly and it was perfect. I made this strictly for decorating a cake, and it tinted wonderfully. The flavor was just so-so. It's definitely better for decorating. I didn't have butter on hand (due to sending the hubby to the store instead of doing it myself), but I'm sure the flavor would be much better with softened, salted butter. I'll use this one from now on when I decorate. It was just super easy!

I made this icing for brownies and they are delicious. I used half butter and half shortening, also I used 1/2 a cup of pure coco.I will always use this recipe.

Excellent recipe and easy to handle. I had to make about 50 flowers for a wedding cake and it was a breeze with this recipe.

This is a crusting decorator's icing. I use one similar all the time because it smooths out like fondant on cakes. I use flavored creamers for the liquids, however,, and that makes a difference. This is a lot superior to use when decorating cakes as it holds well and as long as you don't use butter, holds up to heat and humidity problems. No sliding and you don't have to worry about how long it can stay out of the fridge. Love it!