Hi all, I need help please!
I've been asked to do my first wedding cake.Now the design is fairly simple (well simple as wedding cakes go 
)...3 tiers, all plain sponge in a heart shape. coverd in royal icing, with a swirly pattern on the sides of the top and bottom tier.
Thin lavender and purple ribbon around each tier with flowers, with a flower topper
I have never made royal icing before, have only used the roll out stuff so can someone give me a pointer for a good recipe and technique?
If I do use roll out, then how do I get it perfectly smooth with no bumps or dips from the cake underneath?
and lastly any tips for making perfect flowers?
many thanks for any replies, I'm panicking a bit that I may be in over my head...I've only ever done kids party cakes up until now! 
Did they ASK for Royal icing ? I don't think that would be very good all over a cake....... GREAT for decorating, but I would think it hard for the entire cake....... I don't know about smoothing it either.... Maybe I shouldn't say that since I've never tried it..... 
I'm not much help, but as for the flowers I am beyond hopeless at making my own, so I just buy artificial ones and put them on. There are some really nice realistic ones out there these days, so sometimes people don't even know they are artificial. My two cents on flowers anyway.
Not really much help with the other things sorry. I would like to know what you mean about the bumps and dips from the cake underneath? Is that the tier underneath or the actual cake under the icing?
sorry, I mean the actual cake under the icing, I used roll out once before (for a St George Cross cake) and the finish was bumpy although the cake looked smooth until it was coverd with the icing, and I made sure it was rolled out evenly on a smooth surface. 
she has also asked for edible flowers, which I would like to do myself, but if worst come to the worse there is a shop up the road that can make them for me.
If you want to get a perfectly smooth finish on your sponge cake then I suggest you should use fondant, there are a number of great books you can get that will show you the process, but basically you need to use a coat of something under the fondant, like buttercream, personally I like to use two thin layers of fondant.
Ok, with the cake being bumpy, it can look smooth but there are all the little air holes in the cake - they're tiny and don't look like much but the roll out icing just pokes into them like you wouldn't believe! Did you have a crumb coating or thin layer of buttercream on the cake before you put the roll out icing on?
Sometimes I have actually just brushed the cake thinkly with syrup, then put a layer of roll out on (thinner than usual), let it rest for a couple hours or overnight, then put a second layer (thinker this time) of roll out. I live in Australia and everyone here loves that stuff. Well not everyone, but no-one has complained when I do the two layer thing. Anyway, this also eliminates any bumps.
I just read my post - what a shocking typist!!! That was a thin layer of syrup, and the second layer of fondant is a little thicker!! I think my brain has switched off!!!!
I just wanted to jump in and agree that icing a cake with royal is not the best idea. When I first got started, someone gave me a royal recipe. I had no idea what the differences in recipes were, so I used it to ice all my cakes for a year or two. Once I discovered regular BC, it was a case of "Ohhhhhhhh! THAT'S why my icing broke apart when the cake was cut!" 
I think everyone has covered the frosting for you. For the flowers you could use fondant, gumpaste (although not that tasty), or chocolate clay. Depending on what type of flowers you are making some of them are very easy and quick to make.
There are also real flowers out there that are edible. You have to order them from a florist and make sure that they have been grown with no pesticides on them.
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