I am making my first 3 tier cake for my daughter's 1st birthday. The bottom is going to be styrofoam. Can I put the 2nd layer directly on top of the 1st layer styrofoam without dowels? Or will I just need to use the dowels for the 2nd and 3rd tiers!? Thanks so much!
You don't need dowels for the styrofoam. It's not going to collapse on you 
You only need support for the actual cake tiers. 
You wouldn't need the dowels, although I would probably put a few for my own sanity, I would suggest to put some icing for "glue" to hold them all together...
Are you talking about using dowels for the styrofoam? There is absolutely no need to do that. You use dowels and cardboard to support the cake. The styrofoam is solid and isn't going to collapse under the weight of the cake.
To the op. For a cake that size I use straws. I never use dowels. Straws are actually more secure as they fill up with cake making for a better support. Dowels push cake out of the way. Some use bubble tea straws but I can't find them in my area so I use the wider drinking straws much like the ones at McDonalds. All of the cakes in my photos have drinking straws for supports. I've made tons more tiered cakes than are in my profile and I've never used anything except straws for support. I've traveled as far as 100 miles with some of my cakes and I've never had one to collapse on me. My cakes are usually 10/8/6 inches. For larger wedding cakes the SPS is the only way to go. But for a two tiered birthday cake straws will be great. You're going to need about 5-7 for supporting a 6 inch cake. If this is your first tiered cake give the straws a try. They are so much easier to use.
Awesome, I will give the straws a try! I am planning on using that Wilton 3D Cupcake pan for the top tier, I havent used it yet, but I'm not sure if I need to use the straws for the top and bottom of the cupcake aswell. I won't be moving the cake either since it will just be at our house, so I'm not as worried about it falling apart!
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