Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Quick & easy frosting!

These cupcakes were made for my youngest daughter, Abby's,  bridal shower last summer. I wanted a cream color because I was going to make a 'cake' that looked like her wedding gown! (You  know. The cupcakes assembled on a tray in the shape of a dress?....)

She was going for a semi retro-theme and her wedding dress was a reproduction of my Mother's dress! My parents were married in 1958, and my Mother's dress was made by HER Mother, my Grandmother! It was off-white in color and made of either satin or taffeta with a dotted swiss silk organza overlay!

My parents on their wedding day, July 4, 1958. My father was in the Air Force and was on leave for
the holiday. They're standing on the steps of the courthouse. Unfortunately, this is the
only photo I have of their wedding day and my Mother's dress...

I still owned the dress and Abby was actually considering wearing it, but when we got it out it was falling apart! It fit her perfectly, but the fabric was rotten (it hadn't been 'stored' the way we do with wedding dresses now) and there were stains on the dress!

The dress in 2013...It's a perfect fit, but the fabric is rotten and stained!

A back view...

We considered sending it out to a company that did restorations, but they were out-of-state, which made us very nervous. We came to a decision... I would make the new dress! (YIKES) I was excited and scared at the same time! What if I couldn't do it? Or what if it didn't look right? This WAS her wedding, after all!... In any event, the dress not being totally done at the time of the shower, but all of us anticipating the final outcome, I made this shower 'cake' to slightly resemble the real thing.

This was my first time making anything like this... using a piping bag to frost the cupcakes, and also making
a 'shape' with the cupcakes. I used some of the leftover fabric from the wedding dress I was making
and added it to the yoke area, to mimic the piece on her dress... didn't turn out exactly how I envisioned it! 

Ingredients:

1 cup Crisco

1 Tbls extract (I used vanilla, but you can use other extracts, as well)

6 - 8 Tbls of half & half

Cream the previous three ingredients together. Once these are well blended, add:

1 - 16 oz bag Powdered Sugar

Pinch Salt

I made one recipe per each batch of 18-24 cupcakes.

The finished dress on the wedding day!!... In case you were wondering if I ever finished it!!

Sal & Abby at their 'Ice Cream Social' Wedding Reception....