I have never been a fan of frosting. I'll eat a well-made cream cheese based frosting and some buttercream frostings if they're not too sweet, but that's it. A delicious cake with just a dusting of powdered sugar or some other sparingly-applied garnish is much more to my preference.
I find most commerical frostings on cakes to be greasy and gritty- they set my teeth on edge. A shortening-based frosting would be one I'd scrape off so I could enjoy the cake. I've had friends steal the scraped-off frosting off my plate and offer me their cake.
CarlAird, please don't be offended when people note their dislike of that type of frosting. Taste is highly subjective and personal! I have friends who would not eat homemade buttercream but would prefer the Wilton type and eat it with gusto.
It's just what I like.