I usually use the Wilton plastic dowels for my cakes but I have recently bought Bubble tea straws. I did a 2 tier cake and they worked great... But now I am doing a 4 tier cake for a wedding (other was for family).
Is it safe??? will they really hold up all that weight by themselves??
How many do you typically put in each tier??? Its a 12, 10, 8, 6
Thanks so much
Yes, I would use Bubble Tea Straws. you can get a package of them off eBay for $5 or less. I recently watched the Topsy Turvey Cake DVD by Sharon Zambito and she used Bubble Tea Straws to support the 3 layer fondant covered cake - and we all know how heavy fondant is! I also did a 3 layer wedding cake and use the BBTs and it worked great!
I was nervous to use the straws too...just made the western cake (in my photos), 3 tiers (6,9,10) and used the straws plus one wooden dowel down through all three tiers. During transport (which I'm ALWAYS nervous about) it wobbled just slightly, but held up! And it was VERY heavy. (I did add the boots at the site). And, the straws are much cheaper and easy to cut!! I got the bag of over 100 straws for 89 cents at one place at $1.99 at another local asian market. Oh, and I probably use too many straws because I'm still nervous using them, but I put 8 straws in the ten inch and 4 in the 9 inch tier.
Well I ended up using Wilton Plastic dowels on the bottom tier and bubble tea on the other two tiers... it was a 4 tier fondant covered cake... very heavy and held up great.. I only transported bottom two stacked because im too nervous.
Thanks for everyones help.
what is a bubble tea straw
There used as support for stacked cakes. Some people use the straws (very easy to cut and quite larger than normal straws and support is good), others use dowels (plastic or wooden), and some use SPS.
Here's a link to some of each:
Bubble/Boba Tea Straws:
http://www.bobateadirect.com/Bag-of-Fat-Bubble-Tea-Straws-7.5-pr-418.html
Dowels:
http://search.wilton.com/?q=dowel&x=0&y=0#i=1&q=dowel&type=Products&u1=q&u2=type&x=0&y=0
SPS:
http://www.bakingshop.com/weddingcakes/
HTH! 
Here's a great place to buy bubble straws...I did and was very happy with the product and customer service.
http://cgi.ebay.com/172-Giant-Boba-milk-Tea-straws-smoothie-Thai-Bubble_W0QQitemZ320358525061QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a96db2885&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
Absolutely make sure you drive one wooden dowel thru the center of the cake from top to bottom. Make sure you don't put a supporting device, such as a straw in the middle section because you don't want to hit it when you drive the wooden dowel thru.
Get yourself a pencil sharperner and put it aside for wooden dowels only - this way you will not contaminate the wood.
Also a tac hammer to pound the dowel thru.
Good Luck.
I get mine in chinatown in NY for one dollar a bag!
I buy 10 bags each time cause i dont even live in ny
If you buy online the delivery costs more than the order
I think Globalsugarart shoud carry them
All the cakes in my gallery, big or small have the straws as suport
My train cake was all bubble tea straws....
I usually take the diameter of the cake sitting on the straws and half it. then add one....for example...I have a 10 inch tier on the 12 inch cake...so I used 10 inches, in half is 5, and add one more dowel. Total was 6. For under the 8 inch cake, I used 5 dowels, and under the six inch I used 4.
If I were to do much bigger than that, I may half it and then add two. Just be sure to space out your dowels.
The cake is also WASC.
I get mine in chinatown in NY for one dollar a bag!
paolacaracas
I am going to be in NY in another week. Do you know the name of a particular store that carries the straws or are they readily available in most shops?
Thanks
I get mine in chinatown in NY for one dollar a bag!
paolacaracas
I am going to be in NY in another week. Do you know the name of a particular store that carries the straws or are they readily available in most shops?
Thanks
I am not sure where anyone else goes, but I get mine at a Dollar Store located at 88 Mulberry St (nearest cross street is Canal). Chinatown is a bit chaotic - loads of stores so you may find them elsewhere, but if you are heading here check the location on a map to help you stay orientated. The closest subway options are: Canal Street (J, M, Z, N, Q, R, W, 6), Grand St (B, D)
If you go to this Dollar Store, you need to go all the way to the back where the plastic forks, etc. are located - they sell the straws for about $1.50 for a bag of 50.
Thanks paolacaracas
I'll look for them next week.
Diane
You can buy them in Niagara Falls..... there are 600 in a case, for around $12. They will order them in for you, since they don't carry them here, but it only takes a few weeks......
http://www.gtfrenchpaper.com/index.php?option=location
HTH
ok flourpots i have been looking for postive feedback on a good place to order BBT's and i am taking your advice and ordering from ebay.
i cant wait to get them and try them. ive been using plastic straws with the small wilton dowels inserted in them. for the most part this holds up well, but i hate having to use both.
thanks again!
aundrea...you're welcome...I think you'll be really happy with these straws. I found them to be slightly sturdier than the ones I previously purchased on-line...(those were nearly 10 bucks w/ shipping, for just 50, by the way).
Also, I received them in only 4 days and I'm clear across the country.
If it helps you out any, I delivered the following cake fully assembled. The only supports I used were bubble tea straws. The whole thing was WASC, which is quite heavy.
As for how many, I'd use 4, 5, & 8.
jammjenks, your cake is beautiful, i would be scard stiff if i tried to transfer one that big how did you carry it(:
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