a flower pick into the cake (will be having shooting stars coming out of cake).

Do I do it before I cover in fondant and then stick the wires in (directly into the flower pick so not into the cake itself)?

I presume I remove before cutting?

I feel like I will be giving my friend a huge list of instructions about removing dowels etc from the cake

what i like to do, is pre-arrange my flowers (stars, bursts etc) directly into the pick, to be placed into the cake once its decorated, I usually smoosh a bit of fondant into the pick, so when i put the wires in they dont bouce around to much , you can always cover the 'hole' with a little decoration, some balls or little stars to match the burst

Dont worry about telling your friend to take out the unedible parts first, im sure she would rather know to remove the pick before hand so no one eats plastic lol!