Grandma Burnham's Butter Cream Frosting

Grandma Burnham's wedding cake decorating capabilities are nationally known. She creates the finest wedding cakes using all kinds of tricks (a couple that I can remember are that she sifts the cake mixes themselves if she is working from a mix, and she uses jams to hold layers together, combining interesting flavors like raspberry jam with chocolate cakes, apricot with vanilla, etc.). She freezes her cakes to make them easier to frost. Then the artist goes to work with the frosting:

1 Tsp Clear Vanilla
2 Tablespoons Cream, Milk, or Water
1/2 C Solid Vegetable Shortening (Crisco)
1/2 C Butter or Margarine, softened
1 Lb Confectioners' sugar

Sift the sugar into large bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Blend until creamy. Do not over beat.

Thin with white syrup to do writing or do string work, also to make frosting easier on a cake which is not frozen or has crumbs.

For a pure white frosting substitute 1/2 C Solid Vegetable Shortening and powdered cream for the butter or margarine. A dash of salt will improve the flavor. 1/4 Tsp Butter flavor can also be added.