My favorite...
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white corn syrup
2 egg whites
2 T H2O
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
Flavoring ( 1 tsp vanilla)
put all in a double boiler...or a bowl that will fit over a pan of simmering water. Beat with a hand held mixer while cooking over simmering water until soft peaks form, turn off heat....and continue beating until firm enough...3 or 4 minutes more.
Linda C

Here is one we all really like.

White Icing

In a saucepan mix well 1/2 cup milk and 3 tablespoons flour. Cook, stirring constantluy, until mixture becomes paste-like. Chill in refrigerator.

When ready to prepare icing, blend 1/2 cup margarine, 1/2 cup Crisco, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. When well blended, add the chilled mixture. Beat about
ten minutes until well blended again. Add vanilla and beat for another 5 minutes.

Spread on cake.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 stick of softened butter
1 box 10x sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
2-3 tbsps. milk
Combine butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla, salt and milk one tbsp. at a time to prefered consistency. The longer you beat it the creamier it becomes.

Here's a recipe that's good. I've made it several times. It comes from my mother's 1952 cookbook. I remember her making this too when I was a child. You can make different flavours.

Never-Fail Or Seven-Minute Icing

2 egg whites
1½ cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
Few grains salt
¼ tsp cream of tartar OR 1½ tsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients, except vanilla, in top of double boiler. Cook over boiling water, beating constantly with a rotary eggbeater. Cook for 7 minutes or until mixture holds a point when beater is lifted. Remove from heat, add vanilla and continue beating until cool enough to spread.

Will frost tops and sides of 2 (9-inch) layers.

LEMON  Use lemon juice instead of 2 Tbsp of water, omit cream of tartar and vanilla and add ¼ tsp grated lemon rind.

ORANGE  Use only ¼ cup water. Use juice and rind of ½ orange instead of vanilla.

PEPPERMINT Â Flavour with a few drops of oil of peppermint instead of vanilla and, when frosting on cake is cold but still soft, make a 1-inch border of chocolate flakes around top of cake. Make flakes by scraping bitter chocolate with knife.

CARAMEL Â Use brown sugar in place of granulated sugar.

CHOCOLATE Â Stir 2 squares chocolate, melted, into icing just before spreading on cake.

Linda C: DD tried your recipe, and while it isn't The One she is looking for right now, she says it's exactly like a long-lost one we've been searching for for years. I'm very excited to find this recipe again because it is The Best with a certain chocolate fudge cake that is a family favorite.

DD continues her hunt for the Perfect Recipe for this project and so will be trying all the others too.

Me, I just keep Copy & Pasting for my personal archives. Thank you one and all.

I gather she is looking for a decorator type frosting? Most of those use a lot of crisco which leaves that taste. I make mine using 1/2 butter instead of crisco, but you don't get quite as pure white frosting that way. I have received compliments, but I still think it has a bit of that feel you are talking about.
Buttercream Decorator Icing
½ cup butter
½ cup shortening
1 t vanilla
1/8 t salt
4 cup confectioners sugar
3 T milk/cream
Cream butter and shortening, add vanilla and salt. Beat in sugar, 1 cup at a time. Add cream, beat on high til fluffy. Makes 3 cups.

If you are just looking for a white frosting, try melting the butter & sifting the powdered sugar, then beating for a long time. Or maybe a white chocolate ganache?

When I decorated cakes, we used two basic types of icing. There was 'decorator icing' - made with fat, icing sugar, vanilla, and a touch of milk. Some recipes also add a bit of meringue powder or even some cornstarch. For regular you use butter or half butter, half shortening. For "princess" you would use all shortening to keep it very white. This looks nice, and if you are careful with temperature and consistency it is nice to work with. But, if you ask me, it tastes like crappola.

If you add enough sugar to take away that mouth-coating-grease feel, not only is it too sweet but way too firm for piping through a decorating bag. If you counteract that by whipping it longer and adding more milk, it does get fluffier and tastes better but then your icing won't spread smooth as there will be air bubbles.

Then there was "whipped cream" icing. No whipped cream, but rather nutri-whip light. It is a liquid non-dairy topping that you whip yourself. It is usually found in the refridgerated section of the grocery store, near where they sell cream and milk. Sometimes it is over where they sell the cans of whipped cream.

Whip about half of a carton until it starts to thicken. Add vanilla, and start adding your icing sugar. This is to sweeten and also to make it firmer. Don't add too much or it will be too sweet. I used to add about a cup or so to a whole container of the nutri-whip.

People always loved this (even those who claimed they hated fake whipped cream), although you must refridgerate you cake as it will melt. It is softer, so your decorations won't have the same definition as decorator icing, and it tints to a more pastel shade so you can't get vibrant colours. By adding some chocolate syrup you get chocolate whipped icing which is also popular.

I have also mixed this half and half with the decorator icing and whipped well. Not as fluffy, but not as waxy, and it went over well.