I never make buttercream roses... I always make them out of RI just so they're more stable and I can do them waaay ahead of time. I have a big wedding cake at the end of the month that's going to require about 100 roses around it and would kinda like the softness of buttercream... is there a way you can make them harder for placing them on the cake? Like possibly freezing them? And how far ahead can you make them? Thanks!
My very last cake class I took we had to make over 100 flowers and roses for our cake. I used bc icing and made them about two weeks ahead of time. I kept them on the counter in large cake boxes until it was time to use them. They were hardened enough to pick them up and place them on the cake with out messing them up or breaking. So much easier to use than fresh bc. Just be sure to tell them not to eat them, they might break a tooth! 
You can do them out of buttercream and let them air dry. They will not get as hard as RI. The outsides will get hard but the middles should still be soft unless you do them way, way, way in advance.
I freeze my BC roses all the time...just place them on some waxed paper or saran wrap, and place them in the freezer. Once they are frozen, then you can place them more on top of each other so that you can re-stock your pan or dish that you put them on to freeze. I use an air-tight container. When you want to use them, take them out and put on your cake frozen. I have never made "100" of them, but I'm sure that to get that many done in time, you'll want to start soon.
I freeze my BC flowers all the time. I never make royal flowers. Once they've been in the freezer 1/2 hour or so, they're firm enough to use on a cake if you transfer them quickly. If I need to make quite a few up ahead, I put them in an airtight container. I have this pyrex (glass) 1/4 sheet pan that has a lid. It's great because it stays really cold for a while if I keep the lid on it after taking it out so they don't thaw very fast at all if kept in there while I'm working.
Good luck 
Hi 
I have another suggestion...I just tried the "air dried buttercream" recipe on this site (search under recipes) b/c I did not want to use RI for my roses. This icing dries very hard, can be flavored in a bunch of ways and pipes pretty nicely. I just left the flowers in an open container for 24hrs and they were hard enough to pick up and use but still soft enough to bite into. And they tasted pretty good! Maybe this will help too! Good luck with so many roses!
I always freeze my flowers in advance. Word of warning though. Only take out of the freezer a few flowers at a time or they will thaw out on you and you won't be able to place them on the cake. They thaw out VERY quickly.
This is why I prefer to air-dry. They can be handled easily once they dry (which doesn't take very long if you use a good crusting BC) and still nice and soft. I've seen some roses "bleed" onto the white icing as they melted/thawed, and I've seen them "droop" and go flat as they thawed/melted.
Maybe I'm odd man out here, but I make them and put them directly onto the cake. I find the less I handle them the less chance I'll damage them.
This is why I prefer to air-dry. They can be handled easily once they dry (which doesn't take very long if you use a good crusting BC) and still nice and soft. I've seen some roses "bleed" onto the white icing as they melted/thawed, and I've seen them "droop" and go flat as they thawed/melted.
How far ahead can you make them if you air dry them? I'm always worried about touching them because they break apart so easily on me.
Well this is my take on buttercream roses... I suck at making them...my Moms been making them 30 years and she rocks...so I "sub-contract" (ahuh thats the word, lol) her out to make mine....She makes them up in all kinds of colors and and we freeze them in the extra freezer until I use them up. They do wonderfully in airtight containers lined with wax paper. I have NEVER EVER had one droop or slide off a cake or bleed for that matter. AS a rule, I believe if your icing bleeds, then you had way more coloring in it than you needed, and it was possibly a little more greasy than need be. Your buttercream should be a stiffer consistency for stable roses. I use mine down the sides of cakes for cascades and they work wonderfully..my BC is a 50/50 crusting recipe. HTH
Maybe I'm odd man out here, but I make them and put them directly onto the cake. I find the less I handle them the less chance I'll damage them.
I am odd too. Don't see the point in making them ahead of time. I recently made a half sheet cake, they wanted the entire top of the cake covered with roses and the bottom border to be roses. I used 89 roses. It took 35 minutes to do. I would think it would take almost as much time to try to pick up a dried rose and place it on the cake.
wow, there's no way i could do them all in one night... they take me waaay too long to make! not only that but my hand gets hot and my buttercream starts thinning out so i have to take breaks... once i do about 20, my quality starts going down... not sure why... that's why i like to make them ahead of time and that's why i usually use royal icing... maybe i'll just do that... that way i know they won't break...
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