Hi all:
I have heard many of you state that you use wooden dowels from the hobby section or other places. My instructor last week said to make sure you use food safe dowels as you don't know what the wood was treated with or manufactured with. Is this really a concern?
TIA
Judi
I'm sure you can buy "food safe" dowels, for a hefty price. I really don't see the fuss, though. If you clean the dowel with alcohol before inserting it in the cake, there should be no problem. If you're concerned, talk to the people where you purchase the doweling and ask what it's treated with. I use doweling that I clean with alcohol, and have never had a problem. If the added layer isn't heavy, use plastic straws. They're much easier to cut and have no known health risks.
I've been using straws from McDonald's since they're pretty thick and sturdy. I also use the thickest lollipop sticks I can find (not the flat wooden ones) and that seems to work well too. I use the Wilton wooden dowels for the center dowel on tiered cakes.
I guess we can assume that the 12 inch dowels Wilton sells in packages are "food safe". Other than those, I'm not aware of anyone else selling dowels designed for food use.
Those 12 inchers aren't going to work for a big cake's central dowel, so I purchase oak dowels and wipe them off with a mild bleach solution. It's been suggested that coating it with chocolate also helps so that no wood flavor is absorbed by the cake. I haven't had to do that as yet, but I probably will the next time I make such a cake.
My personal preference for short, support dowels are the plastic hidden pillars. I like having to use only half the number you'd use were you to choose wood or straws, and there's no way that they can bend or buckle.
Rae
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