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I haven’t been successful in finding ‘the perfect buttercream’ recipe. I need it to be deliciously vanilla and smooth and great for piping. Can anyone help me out.? I’m in Australia so need something to withstand the heat

Hi Maria

Have a look at this link http://cakecentral.com/recipes/6992/indydebis-crisco-based-buttercream-icing. I’ve never tried American style icings but I guess they must be ok since so many people on forums rave about them. The discussion in the link is based around BC and hot climates.
In my opinion there the isn’t anything like real butter cream, made with butter. However butter has a low melting point and will melt in heat if not refrigerated. White shortening has a much higher melting point and will withstand heat and humidity better. Some people add corn starch to stabilise the icing, I have no experience of this. If you want a strong vanilla flavour add more than the specified quantity and leave it overnight before using, this infuses the flavour. My preference is vanilla bean paste which gives a fantastic taste of vanilla ice cream. The only other thing I can suggest is to try and keep the cake/cakes out of the heat for as long as possible in an air conditioned environment. Sorry can’t be of more help, g’luck. ps, you can get artificial butter flavour which can be added to icing made with shortening.