I am curious to know whether anyone has ever had a disaster when using bubble tea straws.

I love the stability of the SPS (single plate system) and used it the other day on my sonâs cake. It was great until I went to remove the plate and legs from the supporting tier. They were so snug that I couldnât remove the plate separately from the legs, and the legs were so firmly embedded in the cake that I couldnât hardly get them out (granted, it was a dense cake, but most of mine are). Again, great for stability, but I almost demolished the cake trying to get the dern things out. I would hate to have someone I made a cake for have the same problem when Iâm not around.

So I am thinking that the bubble tea straws would still be sturdy, but easier to remove. Iâd rather not court disaster, though, so am wondering how the stability of the two systems compare.

Thanks for any advice!
Linda

Sugar Shack uses these in her DVD "Successfull Stacking" and highly recommends using them. She combines them with wooden dowels. I highly recommend getting the DVD - it has great info.

I have used the bubble straws but becaues sometimes my figures seem to be so heavy (like rice krispy's covered with fondant I also insert dowls in the straws just to be safe works great. it also helps the cake to be leveled I put the straw in first cut it then put the dowel in the straw to make sure its the right length

Molly2

Umm . . . you're not suppossed to be able to get the plate off the cake without the legs. Just take a long spatula (cake palette knife) and get under the entire plate if possible and lift straight up. After it's a half inch up, you can get your fingers underneath enough to pull it straight out. Yes, even in dense cake.

I did have one near disaster, but I have to blame myself, not the straws.

I supported the fire engine cake http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1230221.html on top of straws, so there was a 1/2" space between the two cakes. I had done this with my Chevy cake and it was fine.

To deliver the cake I had to drive over a rough dirt field which wobbled the heavy engine and caused the straws to shift, so it was leaning to one side and the tires had fallen off (they were styrofoam with toothpicks). I had to get the cake to the table and fix it in front of everyone!

We learn through these disasters, though. Next time, it's wooden dowels pounded down into 4 layers of foam core to keep them stable. (That's what I do for the topsy-turvy's).

Other than that mistake, though, I haven't any trouble with the straws.

I bought some bubble tea straws, but have not used them yet.

I have one question though.....I you are using wooden dowells, why would you need to use bubble straws as well?

Will I used both straws and dowels just to be safe Extra support because of my figures if you look in my pics the western cake with boots and hat they were very heavy and the cake they were sitting on was not a dents recipe so it was done just to keep me happy an it worked out will transported with no problem

Molly2

I would use the bubble tea straws before I'd use the wooden dowells... the straws are hollow allowing the cake to go INTO the straws... the dowells aren't... therefore pushing cake WHERE EVER it can go... causing a ripple effect in your cake.

Love the sps

Hmmm.....I think it's time to pull those bubble straws out of the cabinet!

Thanks ladies!

Thanks for the input everyone!

Leahs, I will try using a spatula or knife next time. I really do like the SPS.