I've only made the pansy, apple blossom, daisy, etc out of royal icing. They've turned out great but I was wondering if you can make them out of BC instead so they are more palatable (my big word for the day ) I would think you could if the consistency is right, but how do they hold up? Can you freeze them a head of time? Thanks for the help, kate

You definitely can. You'd need to use medium-stiff consistency icing to maintain the shape, and they take longer to dry, but you can do it. I am not sure if you'd need to freeze them or not, I guess it depends on how long you'd be keeping them. I am sure you CAN, but I would let them dry first. I am sure someone on here knows though!!

Angela

I have no problem using buttercream for flowers. You just have to let it dry and dry. Or, if you are in a hurry, refrigerate them till hard. Then, quickly place them where you want them on your cake.

I am new to this site an am LOVING it!

See you soon fellow decorators!
TLC

Welcom tlc731! You'll love this site, its so addicting. Thanks for the tip! I know it was a dumb question but I didn't want to make up a batch of BC and then have floppy flowers.

A friend told me that she puts hers in the freezer. Once frozen, she puts them onto her cake immediately, and then they thaw very quickly and there you have regular buttercream again!

Although, if you're going to freeze and then thaw, you'd have to be careful of dark colours bleeding.

It's more of a freezer thing because of the moisture of freezing and thawing. I make my flowers (what few I make) out of buttercream-I'm afraid someone would break a tooth on the royal! You just have to practice to make sure your icing is the right consistency or they won't hold up or mold properly-and besides---didn't they teach you in school-there is no such thing as a stupid question??? That's what learning is all about!

I make all my flowers ahead of time and freeze them. They are easier to work with when mounting them on the cake (in my opinion). I haven't had a problem with bleeding, but I haven't gone real dark yet.

Hi everyone! I agree with montanakate, cause I make roses, baby carrots, panies, leafs and never had a problem with bleeding on cake. I usually put the flowers etc. in refrigerator for an hour or so, then I put in freezer if I do not use them right away. Although I have not tried it on a cake that would be for display for a long period of time. Although, I have only used bc for my flowers, I need to explorer with royal icing and gumpaste for flowering. Sometimes, it is hard to try another method of icing especially after always using the butter cream icing for flowers etc.

Oh, don't be afraid to try new things. Just make a small batch of royal icing one day and goof around with it making flowers, run ons and other goodies. It is so fun!

I bought some fondant just to play with and learned to do flowers with that as well. I just let the "good ones" dry on a flower former or inside the wells of an egg carton and them packed them away in a tupperware.

You can flavor these icings as well. They do not have to be "nasty sweet."
My flowers, fondant, buttercream, royal, etc. have been nicely flavored as chocolate, rum, peppermint, lemon and more.

You can even combine the different mediums to come up with interesting effects. I made a cake topper of fondant (pineapple flavor) in the shape of a baby bassinet with a baby in it and to create the basket weave, I used coconut flavored royal icing. You just let it dry, then place it on the cake.

I hope you like it and that you will also try some of these mediums and have fun with it!

TLC

Hi TLC! Thank you for encouragement to the trying out of the different icings and fondant. I have some large marshmellows and was wondering how many of these do I put in the batter to make the mmf. Do you have any idea? and how many drops of flavoring would you add to the royal icing or to the plain fondant? Thank you for the help.

Gloria