I made two batches. One following the exact recipe, and one with all butter. Defenitely use all butter, the icing turns out just as nice and there is no shortening taste.

Great base recipe; I used all butter, no shortening. I used an extra teaspoon of vanilla and about 4-5 tablespoons of milk. I only used 2½ cups of powdered sugar and found it to be more than enough; I can't imagine the coma I'd be in if I had used 4! I used this icing on the One Bowl Chocolate Cake III (pictured) and I had some left over. The key is clearly to beat at medium to high speed for several minutes to ensure maximum peak. I do recommend this recipe provided you make some minor tweaks... I definitely suggest tasting as you go to ensure that you don't accidentally use too much sugar and have no way to remove the excess. Remember, the best recipes on earth still go through trial and error. =)

I liked this. It had a milder flavor than other buttercream frostings I've tried, and I LOVED not having to cook it, and not using any eggs in it. As another reviewer pointed out though, it's absolutely unnecessary to beat the sugar in one cup at a time. Save yourself all that trouble and just pour all 4 cups in at once. I also used about twice as much milk, but that was just my preference. I suggest adding milk one tablespoon at a time until you have the consistency you desire.

I was looking for a cake and icing recipe to make for my nephews sons' graduation party. I made a cake with this icing. I loved it. I found a recipe that takes one box Duncan Hines white cake mix and add a box of Jello White Chocolate pudding. I made the cake by the directions and just added the dry pudding mix with a 1/2 c. water. The cake is fabulous. I had my neice (mother of grad)come over and try yet another cake, and she went nuts. She loved it. She stated "this is the cake, this is the one, you can stop looking for recipes. The icing is fabulous. It goes great with the cake. It all just melts in your mouth. Oh I'm in heaven. This is the best cake I've ever had." And the grad himself even tried it and loved it. I sent half the cake home with them and they were fighting over who was carrying the cake as they were going out the door. LOL. Well you have made all of us very happy. I get to quit baking bad cakes with so-so to nasty icing and my nephews son knows he is getting a fabulous cake for his grad party. Thanks so much. This was a life saver.

Awesome frosting! I have made it enought o know that you do not need to put each cup of sugar in at a time though. It's a waist of time & unnessesary. You can put all the cups in one bowl at once and all of the other ingredients and simply mix. It takes less than 5 minutes.

I took others reviewers advice and used only butter. The key is to mix on high to get it to blend into icing. I put all the sugar in at once as well. I used all 4 cups of sugar and it was sweet. I love sweet, but this is too much for me, will make it again but only use 3 cups

This was really good! I took advise from other reviews and ONLY used Butter. I did NOT use shortening. I also increased the vanilla to 2tsp and reduced the sugar to 3 cups. Although no one else thought so, I thought it was a bit thick, and i think it may have been that my butter was not at room temp ( i had to warm it in the microwave.) When i make this again, i will make sure the icing is warmed properly. Try this recipe! It is really good!

I usually hate making home made icing. Usually I just cheap out and buy the store bought stuff. This year I decided to make sugar cookies with the kids and thought it would be fun to do some decorating as a christmas activity. This recipie, to say the least, is AWESOME!! I thought we were going to eat all the icing before we even decorated the cookies!! I hate the taste of icing usually but this was so tasty. I used only butter with no shortening and added a wee bit more milk. Definitely will use this one again!! THANKS!

I was very pleased with this recipe. I have just recently started decorating cakes and this was the best icing I have made so far. I cannot find the difference but it tasted better than the Wilton's recipe. Excellent!

This is a very good, basic, simple recipe for cookie frosting. It doesn't taste too buttery, and it is very sweet, but with just the right amount of frosting it adds a sugary kick to cookie recipes. I used it with the "Best Rolled Sugar Cookies" recipe, since that one isn't very sweet, and it was a perfect complement. Just make sure your confectioner's sugar isn't lumpy (maybe use a sifter) or else it won't spread smoothly and evenly like it does on bakery cookies.