I think it was the flavor(or lack there of) of the shortening that ruined the recipe. The consistancy was fantastic, but even my kids wouldn't eat this frosting. If you want to try this recipe... I suggest going with GRIAM01's upgrades. Happy Baking!

Although I made some changes, this is my new favorite frosting. Instead of egg whites, I substituted Meringue Powder and Water, and it worked beautifully. I used 10 tsp of meringue powder and 2/3 cups water. Also, as other suggested. I only used 1 cup of shortening. At the end, because I wanted a bit more sweetness, I added 1 cup of powdered sugar. Although it does take a lot of work for this recipe in my opinion, it is well worth it!! **UPDATE** I made this again today and it seemed softer than usual. I think it was because I put the meringue powder in the bowl before I added the water, so the mixer didn't get all of it when whipping it up. Poor the water first, then add the powder slowly to incorporate then whip on high. Also, I wanted chocolate frosting, and added 1 1/4 cup of cocoa WAY TOO MUCH, unless you like a very RICH chocolate frosting. I will take it to 3/4 cup or 2/3 cup next time. To try to compensate for the "softness" I added another 1/2 cup of shortening, but I could taste some of it. I am hoping the chocolate will hide it a bit.

After reading the reviews it looked like all I had to do was leave out the shortening and all would be well. Except that it wasn't stiff enough so I added a cup of shortening. That firmed it to the correct consistency. I then had my husband do a taste test (his birthday cake after all) and the strangest look crossed his face as he asked if there was any sugar in it. I tasted it myself and sure enough it was bland as anything. To try and save it I added two more cups of sugar another teaspoon of vanilla and a half teaspoon of salt. This helped dramatically, especially the salt. I might want to experiment using salted butter if I ever make this again.

This was alright. The only change I made was to use only 1/2 c. of shortening. This very well may taste like a proper buttercream, but I found it pretty tasteless. I don't like the overly sweetened icings, but this needs more sugar.

I'm sure it might have been good, but after mixing for essentially 30 minutes, my icing separated after 2 days. I'm not sure what happened nor how to fix it.

Left out the shortening, and it was just amazing. Couldn't stop eating it. It is really best on the first day, and while it can be chilled, it wasn't as good, in my opinion. Just delicious, and good for decorating, too - it held up very nicely in my piping bag even without the shortening.

Oh, wow, amazing. Couldn't stop licking the spoon. I left out the shortening and it set so nice in my first-ever layer cake. YUM!

While the buttercream looks great, the shortening is overbaring. Skip the shortening and you have a nice, proper, Italian buttercream.

This was wonderful, I'm 16 and I want to grow up to be a cake/pastry/chocolatier and I tried making real butter cream with a different recipe and it came out horrible, but this came out perfect, but I only used 1 cup of shortening, I don't know if it would have made a difference but it came out perfectly anyway :) Great Recipe! Every time I make butter cream this is the recipe I'm going to go back to.