I hate using wooden dowels for stacked construction and have used the hollow plastic white ones frequently. I was watching "Ace of Cakes" last night and caught a brief sight of one of the guys snipping what looked like a straw that he was obviously using to support the next layer with. Has anyone used drinking straws instead of dowels? Will that work? Thanks for any suggestions! Y'all are the best!

Kristin

The instructor of my last decorating class uses straws all the time, I have not done a stacked cake yet but will be doing on for a birthday in a few weeks and was planning on using them. HTH

Just bought Sugarshack's Successful Stacking DVD. She uses those big fat bubble tea straws. I bought some on ebay, but have not tried them yet. Good luck!

those are not regular drinking straws but the fat bubble straws.

I have not tried them either yet

I hear the SPS system is awesome and the most secure for stacking.

I'm with you on HATING wooden dowels, and have had 1 too many ALMOST disaster cakes becuase of the wooden dowels moving out of place... I switched over to the white plastic ones and have not had any more problems, I do however feel badly sometimes becuase the white ones seem to use alot more space in my opinion, therefore giving the client less cake to eat... Let me know if you find something else... Goodluck

a friendly baker in my area suggested plain drinking straws as support. I've used them and they work!

won't plain drinking straws buckle under the weight of the cake????

he assured me they would not and mine didn't. I used a lot though.

Chef Lori told me she uses them also. I have to travel a long distance with most of my wedding cakes so I invested in the stress free stacking system. The only problem I find is I get this look from the venue when I tell them to make sure I get my separator plates back. One lady said "Arent they just plastic?" I said, No, their metal and their expensive! When you pay $175 for the starter set, its not something your just going to through into a cake and not get back. But other than that, it works great!

I use Boba straws/bubble tea straws. They are really big and work great and I swear I saw them being used on Ace of Cakes also! I get them at a tea shop that sells boba drinks, or the local asian market but if you don't have either of those where you are, they are on the internet too.

Here's a link I found so you can tell what they look like.
http://www.buyboba.com/lajubost7lo1.html

And straws don't buckle because as you push them in they fill with compacted cake and become solid instead of hollow.

thanks everyone for your comments and ideas. I will order some "Boba" straws for the next cake!

thanks so much Lalana for clearing that up. I have an asian food market next to where i live, so i'll be on the lookout.

i use bubble tea straws; easy and sturdy!!

yes - bubble tea straws here too!
700/pk for $24.95 (cdn) + shipping
is what I pay...

i just made a stacked cake for my mother's BD. 9" on the botton with a 6" on top. i used regular drinking straws for support and they worked very well..........

SPS really is an easy to use, secure and inexpensive system. It is soo very sturdy. You can stack and transport and much as your can lift.