What's the advantage of using royal icing versus buttercream? I've never used royal. I don't think I'd like having to mix up separate batches of icing for the same cake. Also, doesn't royal icing break down when placed on buttercream? How long would it take for instance, for royal icing roses to break down after being placed on a buttercream cake? Thanks!

Tracy

I haven't found much use for royal besides making flowers and other decorations in advance since they dry hard and almost last forever. Great for when you won't have time the night before to make all the decorations.

I've heard they will break down when placed on buttercream (or any grease/oil), but I haven't had them combined long enough to see that happen. The longest I've had a decorated cake is 24 hours after assembly.

When they "break down" on the cake, they just soften up. They don't fall to pieces or anything like that. At least I haven't experienced that yet.

Like LightofApollo said, royal is great to for making flowers and other things in advance since you can store them indefinitely. This week I made some royal snowflakes to put on a cake this weekend.

I think the advantage is the time factor. If you use BC, you'll have to do the decorating once you have the cake assembled or do a FBCT. But I've never tried making buttercream flowers in advance...

Thanks for the advice! I never thought about making the flowers and decorations in advance. That makes tons of sense! So far, I've only done birthday cakes and such, so there's not really been any need to do anything in advance. But I may need to make flowers for the wedding cake I'm doing in March, and that would ease my stress tremendously to have that part done early! Thanks again!