Yeah, panini, i'm sure that price is a big concern, both for the consumer and the baker. I can accept that supermarkets make their cakes with some crappy fats. I find it harder to accept that people will feed their kids crappy unhealthy fats, but that's another matter (saving the good stuff for themselves - pretty depressing). But when you get to the level of buying cakes shaped like shoes, or babies or some other horrendous thing, then you are spending lots of money, and what on earth would make them choose shape over taste?
Traditional american butter frosting as i remember it never had eggs - all the old recipes i remember from childhood were just butter and powdered sugar - maybe cream added, chocolate, etc, but I remember when I discovered french pastry and european buttercream, it was a big deal, back in the 70s - smooth, silky, less sweet, heavenly. Good old Julia Child opened our eyes back then, and there was this patisserie on newbury street in boston that had stuff with french buttercream which was a big discovery for me in high school, and i started making it myself. But you can make other kinds of frosting without being reduced to the chemistry lab! Nobody eats cake because it's good for you, but at least it doesn;t have to be toxic.