I’ve never done a cake using this many dragees before but I did recently decorate a 21st birthday cake with dragees to look like fireworks. (the photo is on my page but it only shows the front of the cake and there were exploding dragee fireworks on the back as well.) I piped on little dots of royal icing, ten at a time and then quickly attached the dragees not giving the royal icing time to dry. It didn’t take as long to do as I thought it might and the dragees were stuck, rock solid. None of them came off and they were on for three days before the cake was cut. I also coloured my royal icing so that it was the same colour as the fondant and it didn’t stand out then. However, a thin layer of royal icing with the dragees stuck to it just might work as well? But if you roll your dragees when you’re putting them on in bulk they’ll end up covered in royal icing. Slow and steady may be the safest way to go. Just charge more for the time and hassle.
