Tons of frosting recipes call for shortening. Sharon Zambito (you can see her on YouTube) who makes DVD's about how to frost a cake uses 5 cups of shortening. Crisco is exactly what most cake decorators use. You can also make a Mousseline butter cream which is sugar, butter & egg whites or a meringue butter cream - neither of these have shortening but are more delicate with the heat and food safety issues. Hope this helped.