Frugal Birthday Cakes: Part 3-The best frosting!

I started this series on frugal birthday cakes a long time ago.  You can read Part 1 and Part 2 if you would like.  Part 1 shows you some of the cake I have made in the past.  The most recent one, is the Spaceship cake you see above that was for my oldest son's 5th birthday, Toy Story party.  Isn't it great?  More details on that one later.

I have been meaning to post this recipe for frosting for a long time.  Sorry.  This is a recipe my family has been using for years and we even know the baker who invented it.  She is the one who made many of our cakes for various birthdays, showers, and even rehearsal dinners for our family's weddings.  This frosting is very smooth and creamy and not too sweet.  It works great for decorating cakes.  The key to this recipe is to make sure that the evaporated milk is very cold and that you beat the frosting for a good 10 minutes (or even more).  I also put the frosting in the refrigerator at various times while I am decorating a cake to make sure it doesn't get too runny.  It freezes well too and tastes great with animal crackers!  I don't know about you, but our family loves to dip animal crackers in frosting!  Yummy!  Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup Crisco

1 cup (2 sticks) Blue Bonnet or Parkay margarine (cold)

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup very cold canned evaporated milk

Blend Crisco and margarine together.  Add powdered sugar.  Add vanilla.  Gradually add the 1/2 cup of evaporated milk and beat on high for at least 10 minutes.