I am doing my first stack cake this weekend. Which is better wooden dowel or plastic dowel?

i never use wood... bc it can splinter, i always always always use plastic...

I agree with pinklesley1 and for the same reason. I always use plastic.

What do you all use to cut the plastic? I used cookie sticks this weekend for a small round cake that I stacked. My cake may not have needed any dowel support, but I didn't want to take a chance. I was also worried about wood splintering.

Thanks,
Mara

i bought a pipe cutter at home depot, but before that i just used a real sharp knife...
and make sure you cut straight... that was my only problem... which is why got the pipe cutter...

i sometimes use the popsickle sticks too, the paper ones...

marag - A ceraded knife and some man power I would guess.

dreamdelights - The SPS system is highly recomended for stacked cakes. Leahs has instructions posted on CC somewhere with photos. Very easy to follow

how much is sps system, i may have to invest in it...

Do plastic straws work?

AYou can buy SPS at Oasis Supply .com. It's really quite inexpensive. It's considered disposable, and you just build it into the cost of your cake.

i have never used straws... but some people swear by the bubble tea straws...

thanks leah

I have always used wood and never really though about the splintering until i read this. So what kind of plastic rods do you use and where do you get them?

i buy them at my supply place... wilton makes them.. they make two sizes... in two different lengths...

they are called "Hidden Pillars" I think...

Wilton makes plastic dowels (I use those most often and cut them with a serrated knife) and hidden pillars (shorter, larger bore, heavier plastic--and I cut those with a pipe cutter). The hidden pillars are sized to accept the little legs of the Wilton plastic cake plates.

I do use wooden dowels for very small cakes and as full cake supports. I wipe them down with vanilla and then coat them with some crisco. If you buy good, hardwood dowels they won't splinter. They've been the standard for cake stacking for years.

Rae

I definitely prefer the plastic Wilton hidden pillars. When the legs of the plates fit down into the pillars, it makes for a VERY stable tiered cake. I don't have to worry about putting a dowel down through the middle. I've done hundreds of tiered cakes and have never had one slide, fall, lean or collapse in any way. I've known of wood supports to actually cause the plates above them to crack due to the weight of the cakes on the plates and the wood dowels not being cut perfectly level. (They tend to pinch sometimes, depending on how you cut them)

I use wooden dowels. I really like the plastic but can't always get them locally so wood it is for me. I slip the wood dowel into an oversized drinking straw to protect the cake from it.

I use pvc pipe from Home Depot, the kind made for piping water lines,etc. I buy it in 8 foot lengths and cut it down with pipe cutters to fit into my sink of bleach water to sanatize them. I buy the 6 foot length for under $5... way cheap to use! I think it is 1/2" pipe that I use. I buy the thicker kind for making bows, etc... works great!