I have made a few Dresden Plates. I generally prefer to applique them by hand. When I ramrodded a Dresden Plate fund raiser, most of the blocks were machine appliqued. I don't think the difference mattered to anyone. (the quilt took a blue ribbon, BTW) In case you don't already know this, DP is one of those blocks that are MUCH better done with PPing.
Removing the back is mainly important for hand quilting.