Royal icing

The icing flowers that I make are made from royal icing, which can last indefinatly once they have dried out. Some books I've read make mention of decorating a cake with royal icing, often doing three seperate icing layers, with 24 hours in between each, in order to allow the royal icing to dry. It also says that you can decorate a cake and leave it out, in a cool dry place for up to a month before eating it. Won't this cake become hard, like the flowers? Seems like the cake icing would crack, crumble, and just generally be nasty tasting?.

[m brown]

It all depends upon the style of cake you make. A heavy fruit cake washed with brandy covered with apricot preserves and marzipan is very well sealed. The end coating of royal icing and decoration should have no effect on the flavor of the well aged cake below.