I am making a mother's day cake this weekend and would like to get some of the buttercream flowers out of the way. Since I am new to cake decorating, I have several qustions....

~ How early can I make the flowers?
~ Will they be OK if I air dry them?
~ What about freezing them?
~ Are there any containers that I should store the flowers in?

Any hints, tips, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you SO much!

What kind of BC flowers are you thinking about doing? I have done a few cakes with drop flowers on them. I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and do them on there and freeze them for about 10 min and put them in a container back in the freezer. They do break so make sure you make more than what you need. I really havent tried more than the flowers they teach you in wiltons class. Good Luck.

I am by no means an expert, actually I am just now considering doing my first not for family cake, but I did take 3 of the 4 Wilton classes. I can tell you that for class we made all butter cream flowers the same day as we decorated the cakes. The only flowers we made in advance were out of royal icing.
That being said I do have an opinion; however, please remember this is just my opinion. If make the flowers on small parchment squares you should be able to make the flowers the day before and store them in a container like a deviled egg carrier in the refrigerator. This might make them less likely to break. But again is just an opinion

I do everything in buttercream....icing, flowers, everything.

Air drying is best. Anything frozen, when removed from the freezer, will melt. If you make them months in advance, you can freeze them, but allocate enough time when you remove them from the freezer to let them air dry.

Well, I just made some roses tonight and finished them at 5:00. It's 6:45 now and I can 'gently' pick them up with my fingers. If I had to decorate the cake tonight, I'd be ok. I will leave them sit out overnight and I should be able to toss them across the room for someone to catch, if I have to!

And yes, I used the new crisco .... worked fine.

Does anyone have any great buttercream recipes that they like?

2 lbs p. sugar
1-1/3 cups crisco
3 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk

measurements are approximate. Adjust milk for consistency needed.

you could use swiss meringue buttercream (easy to make) and pipe the flowers...then you just put them in the fridge and they will become hard like butter..you can pick them up and attach them to the side of your cake with a dab more buttercream...they look really lovely and pipe easily. You have to be a butter lover to like this type of icing though...

I have used the regular type buttercream and like Indydebi says, just leave them out and they will harden...
good too...