Here is a simple cake decorating frosting recipe for Butter-cream frosting.

You will need
* 1/2 cup of butter
* 1/2-cup solid shortening
* 1-teaspoon vanilla essence
* 4 cups sifted confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
* 2 tablespoons milk

Put the butter and solid shortening in a bowl and beat it with and electric mixer at a medium speed. Add the vanilla essence. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time. Keep beating the mixture well. When all of the sugar has been added to the bowl the mixture will look dry. Add the 2 tablespoons milk and beat the mixture until it appears light and fluffy.

Your basic Butter-cream frosting is ready.

Too create some designs you will need your frosting to be different consistencies. You can make frosting with various consistencies at home.

For that you will need,
* 4 cups of confectioner's sugar
* 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
* 1-tablespoon egg white powder or meringue
* 2 tablespoons water, warm
* 1 teaspoon clear vanilla essence
* 1/2-teaspoon salt
* 1-teaspoon light syrup

In a large mixing bowl mix sift the confectioner's sugar and the egg white powder. Dissolve the salt in the warm water. Cream the shortneing and add the salted water to it. Start adding the confectioners sugar to the mixture one cup at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl. At a medium speed mix it for 5 minutes with a hand held mixer. If you are using a stand up mixer use it on low for 2 minutes.

This this will make your frosting a stiff consistency. To make flowers to decorate your cake, just remove about one cup of your frosting and keep it aside.

To get a frosting with a medium consistency add 2 teaspoons of water to the remaining mixture. You can use it for flowers with petals that lie flat. You can remove 1 cup of the medium consistent frosting and add light syrup. This will give more elasticity to the frosting.

Color gels are great for changing the color of your frosting. It is easier to mix gel colors together if you want to make different colors. Use a flat toothpick to streak the color into your icing. Each time use a different toothpick to add the color so that the basic gel color jar will not be contaminated with other colors.

Use these great frosting recipes to bring your cake decorating to life.