I'm making a birthday cake which will be covered in buttercream icing. I plan on adding some dried royal icing flowers to the cake as well. The party is on a Tuesday. However, I will decorate the cake on the preceding Monday. Would the flowers be okay if I add them to the cake on the day before the party, or should I wait and apply them on the day of the party? Just wondering if the buttercream would break down the royal icing flowers.. thanks for any replies!

A lot will depend on *what* flowers. Roses and other thick flowers can be added whenever - they should be just fine; but....thin flowers such as apple blossoms, daisy etc might change color some as they take up the grease in the b'cream. They might soften some, but should not melt into a puddle etc.

In addition to kakeladi's advice, I've found that using a bit of piping gel on the back of the flower to attach it to the BC cake seems to slow down absorbing the oils.

Takes a bit of extra time, but when I had to decorate a bit earlier than I'd have preferred, it worked.

Rae

I'd wait until before the party, personally. I did a cake with RI flowers once and the flowers looked fine but they were totally soft when you touched them after they'd been on the cake overnight.

Thank you guys for all your help.

After my royal icing flowers are dry, I add a spike on the back of each with a small star tip--1" long with green royal icing. That dries hard, and then I stick that part into the buttercream cake with no trouble. I have done this 2 days ahead of time and it keeps the flowers off the icing so well that the flowers are lifted off whole for keepsakes.