Name: Decorator's Buttercream Icing
Ingredients: 2 cups (1 pound or 454 gram) unsalted butter, room temperature; 1 cup (230 gram) vegetable shortening or hi-ratio shortening; 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice or 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract, pure vanilla extract, or almond extract; 3 lbs (1.36 kilograms) 10X confectioners' sugar; 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp (4 1/2 fl ounces or 135 mililiter) water, milk, or clear liqueur; 3 Tbsp meringue powder (see, Epicurious Editors' Notes); 1 tsp salt

This decorator's staple remains an old reliable when all else fails. It even performs well in warm weather.

Epicurious Editors' Notes:

• This recipe yields more than enough for two cakes—if icing only one cake, make a half recipe or freeze the extra.
• If using the icing to write on a cake, soften it with extra liquid. If using it to pipe roses, add extra confectioners' sugar.
• Meringue powder is available at wilton.com.

Recipe notes

Palets Bretons

Palets bretons are oversize cookies that feature butter, and because they’re from Brittany, they’re traditionally made with beurre salé, salted butter.

Dulce de Leche

Make this versatile caramel at home with our slow-simmered method using milk and sugar—or take one of two sweetened condensed milk shortcuts.

Île Flottante

Originally called omelette à la neige (snow omelet) in reference to the fluffy snow-like appearance of the meringue, île flottante (floating island) has a lengthy history that dates back to the 17th century.