I have seen many dowels being sold i.e. the hollow support dowels and the plastic stick dowels which are much thinnner. Which one is better? I thougt the hollow ones are best as they are more sturdy but they also take up alot of cake inside the tube therefore there will be less cake for the guests. To me, the plastic or wooden stick dowels look abit flimsey. I am not sure if they can suport a tiered cake

I don't have an answer which is best, for me it was a question of "which system was I the most comfortable with". I started out with the hollow tubes, but grew to hate how much cake was missing an didn't feel right calculating servings accurately. On top of that cutting those darn things straight left me on pins and needle. Never tried the jumbo straws and wooden dowels, didn't feel comfy for me, but others swear by them. I invested in the stress fress rings and for me that was my best choice. Brides return them promptly (with the deposit that I charge I'm sure helps) and in 6 years of business never had to replace one of them. Good luck with your decision.

I use bubble tea straws and I buy them from ebay.

Bubble tea straws here too. Love them.

what rings do you mean?

Get out yor pocket book for these babies... http://www.weddingcakesupports.com/ (stress free support system - VERY nice, VERY expensive!)

I use straws for a two tier cake and wooden dowels for a taller cake

I use SPS for every cake, every time. Easy. Cheap. Sturdy. Disposable, no returns.

We can't use SPS in the UK, our cakes are 3" deep, not 4" as in the USA.