Giggles wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm taking my first Wilton cake decorating course and I'm having fun
> learning new things. For the course we have to make this buttercream which
> is mostly made up of vegetable shortening & icing sugar it's great for
> piping flowers & doing th boarders & of course frosting the cake. But I
> don't like the idea of all that shortening. Is there another icing that is
> good for this? What's the name so I can find a recipe?
>
> Also for the course I've been using boxed cake mixes for the cakes, but I
> find that the cakes are to soft and crumbly when I have to slice them in
> half to make layers for the filling. What are some tasty cake that are a
> little more dence and not as crumbly.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Giggles


This site has several icing recipes.

http://dessert.allrecipes.com/directory/368.asp

As far as slicing cakes made from a boxed cake mix is concerned, first
make sure the cake is completely cool, it may help if the cake is
actually chilled. Second, use a serrated knife and make sure the blade
of the knife you're using is at least as long as the diameter of the
cake.