The best icing ever

I'll admit it; I usually buy my birthday cakes. There's a locally owned supermarket here called Graul's which has a fantastic bakery, and I happily plunk down $30 or more for one of their creations. Why, you ask? I just haven't found any other recipe or bakery who makes the kind of icing I like. I am not a fan of the buttercreamy stuff that tastes like crisco half the time. I like the kind that is so sugary sweet that it is a little crunchy when left out in the open air for a little bit. Well, I was planning on continuing to buy my cakes, when I took a cake decorating class at an Enrichment night from my friend Summer. Summer is a cake decorating extraordinaire. Case in point:
This is a cake she did for a baby shower, and in fact, when I had Camille, she made an awesome cake for my baby shower too. Anyway, that night she had us bring a batch of icing using her recipe. And after tasting it and decorating with it, I was hooked. Now I am excited to start making my own birthday cakes!

This is us at the Enrichment night.

This is me during my conversion to homemade cake decorating and wonderful icing.
And here's the recipe for the icing. Enjoy!
1/2 cup regular shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract (Summer suggested buying the Wilton clear vanilla if you want to make a super-white frosting, you can find it at Michael's)
4 cups sifted powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. milk

Cream the butter and shortening. Add the vanilla. Gradually add the sugar, a little at a time, and beat well. As the icing starts to stiffen, you can add milk to it (if you need to add just a little more to be able to continue beating it, that's ok.) Color if desired. Seal and store in fridge until ready to use.