I was wondering if anyone had purchased ready made flowers out of either royal icing, fondant, or gumpaste? I usually make all my flowers, but thought every now and then I get a call at the last minute for a cake and I thought that it would be nice to have some on hand. This might be a crazy question but if you have used ready made royal icing flowers are they EDIBLE??? Thanks!

Kim

Anyone?

I have used ready made royal icing flowers and yes they are edible. They are actually quite hard to the touch, and most adults probably woudn't eat them, but kids love to munch on them. Gumpaste flowers, even though they are made of edible materials are, in my opinion, not something I would try to eat.

I have purchased GumPaste flowers for emergency back-ups. They are expensive. They are recommended for decoration only. Royal icing flowers can be eaten. I always say you can mortar a brick house with the stuff. You can make these flowers ahead and store them for a long time.They are great for those times you need to put a cake together quick.

The orange flowers on my wedding cake were purchased. I have tried making gumpaste flowers before and it's just not my thing. I love designing and decorating, but I'm not a detailed sit and make a flower for hours kind of person. I thought the flowers were really nice and not that expensive. It was definetly worth it if you count how much you should be paid for your time. I read in my cake decorating magazine that professional cake decorators who make gumpaste flowers for wedding cakes are charging $40 to $60 per flower. Now that's expensive. They have wires and floral tape and stuff around them, so I wouldn't eat them.