I don't have dowel for my cake but I did find some Hobby craft sticks wood, non toxic assorted colors in my house. Would it be okay to use those? I also have some lollipop sticks as well.

The last two tier cakes I have made I used straws in the bottom tier to support the top tier and then used a chopstick for the dowel in the middle for support. It has worked for me so far and the chop stick has been just the right size, so no cutting involved. Hope that this info is useful.

CWR41, No it's round, not the flat kind. I figured if it's non toxic I can use them right?

Kimmi that is a great ideal. Thanks.

I always use straws too. Much easier to cut than dowels. I keep a few extra straws from places like Sonic on hand. I think they're thicker than those you can buy in a package at the grocery store. (Plus it's a reason to keep feeding my Sonic drink addiction.)

Most people who use straws aren't using regular drinking straws, they're using bubble tea straws.

The straws that I have used are drinking straws from Braum's, an ice cream store here in OK. The are a bit bigger around and pretty sturdy. They give them for pop and shakes.

I'm not sure what a bubble tea straw is, but the only time i used straws (the only time i forgot to dowel) was at my daughter's party at a restaurant and i totally forgot to dowel the middle tier. I used straws from the restaurant. They were the wide ones.

Thanks ladies for a great tips, and I'm glad to see alot of Okies here. I'm from Tulsa.

I use plain old drinking straws.... nearing 700 wedding cakes now.

regular straws? I would have thought for sure those were too flimsy. I love bubble straws.

Wouldn't there be a difference between "non-toxic" and "food safe"? I would think if the craft sticks weren't make for food related products, then you shouldn't use them with food products.

Yep, plain old straws. Take a 4" or so (dowel length) piece of straw, hold it between your first finger and thumb and just TRY to break it

Wow,drinking straws,so interesting.

I use straws all the time, so much easier to cut. All the tiered cakes in my pics are doweled with straws. I use plain solid black straws. I would love to be able to find bubble tea straws but have been unable. You would think my cake store would think to stock them, but I guess they make more money selling wooden dowels.

from where I am we dont have dowels as well, we have to order from Australia or America. Next time we get an order for a tiered cake we will try the straws... fingers crossed hope that it works....Our straws here could be different to the ones you have in the states and Canada

Mine are about 1/4" thick

I use straws the kind I have seem to be a bit thicker than the kind you would get for like a fountain pop at the store, the other thing I have used (only done this once) was kabob sticks like you make shish kabobs on.

I buy my bubble tea straws on eBay. Amazon has them too.

Does it matter the type of straw? Like straws from fast food joints?

......regular straws? I would have thought for sure those were too flimsy..........
......straws! It holds the cake the same as a wooden dowel?...........

YES!! Plain old soda drink straws do a wonderful job of supporting cake. BurgerKing; McD; and as has already be mentioned many other places have great straws. [I'm not fond of TacoBells - too thin ]
Tons of wedding cakes have been supported with them. Just be sure you don't get those 'bendable' ones from the grocery store.
When I go to BK I take a fat handful and ask how much 'can I buy some?" usually they will say oh just take them. OR when I go to other resturants they always give a straw when you order a drink. I don't usually use one but will take it home to have on hand. Eventually you build up a nice amount