I am planning on making my first tiered cake tonight for a barbeque tomorrow. I am very nervous all of a sudden about the structure. Can I just use normal straws as dowels or do they need to be special ones? How many? The tiers are going to 2 layers each, one 10" and one 6" round. I would love all and any advise! Thanks.

I've never used straws, but in a moment despair, I've used platic forks to hold up the top layer (I break off the tines). It worked, thank God. I used six of them for a cake your size.

Thanks! I was thinking 6 would be a good number! When I am stacking the cakes on top of each other I know I need a cake board under the 6" but should I also have something to keep the cake board off the icing on top of the 10"? Like parchment paper?

I only use straws and just make sure that they are the thick ones.

Yes, that will keep the frosting intact on the bottom cake.

Thanks so much for the replies! I will post a picture as soon as I can, this is only my fourth cake ever so wish me luck!

Good luck.

I usually use plastic straws as well, and they have always worked for me...

I use the fat "bubble tea" straws that you can buy at Asian market stores. They are strong, but you can still easily trim them to size with regular scissors. HTH!