I made (tried to make!) a Christmas cake with red poinsettias out of royal icing using the lily nail and they never hardened on the inside. When I tried to take them out of the foil they all fell apart. What should I have done to make them harden down in the center where they are not exposed to the air? I even tried to freeze them, which didn't help and might have made it worse. Any suggestions?

The best thing i have found is when the petals are hard and the rest isn't is either peal the foil off carefully and let the flower finish drying. Or turn the flower upside down and slit the foil so that the air can get to it.

The condensation from putting them in the freezer probably did make the problem worse. and for a future not you can pipe these flowers directly on the cake using buttercream.

How long did you let them dry? These flowers usually take several days to dry. A way to help the bottoms dry faster is to poke a few holes in the bottom with a corsage pin or tooth pick.

I made a Christmascake with pointsettas of buttercream (in my photos) and piped them right onto the cake the same way you would in the lilly nail. If you really want the height, you can pipe a but of buttercream under the petals. HTH

Thanks for the suggestions. I let them dry about two days but maybe that wasn't long enough. I'll try poking holes in the bottom next time. They looked so beautiful in the foil that I really want to try them again some time.

You can also put them in the oven with just the light on to help dry them faster.

You may even be able to put them in a food dehydrator... worth giving a try.. I use it for gumpaste & things that take 24hours take less than 3 hours to dry! Love that Dehydrator, LOL!

I just made some poinsettias out of modelling chocolate today, maybe that would be something to try for next time you need them.