For the longest time I thought I had to use dowels to support my cake tiers. I would have the worst trouble cutting them perfectly even.
Then at work my boss introduced me to plastic straws. I was so doubtful but he showed me the physics of it.... take a sturdy plastic straw (I love the neon ones from Walmart, easy to see and remove as well!) and press down on it as hard as you can, even with a glass or something. It does NOT bend or break! Putting 8 of them around under a wedding cake is just as sturdy as anything. At work, we use straws and NO middle dowel and the refrigerated cakes travel and everything and they don't budge. Now from home I will center dowel if the cake isn't going to be refrigerated.
I just wanted to mention that those of you who are scared of the straws...I think its much easier to get the straws even. I am wondering if even dowels would be partially the cause of collapsed cakes because unless you have the right tools it is very hard (for me anyway) to get the dowels as even as the straws.
Happy decorating!
I've been considering trying straws next time. I know they seem flimsy, but you're right - if you press straight down on them they're really strong! It's kinda like an egg. If you squeeze an egg along its side it breaks easily. But if you squeeze it lengthwise it's really strong.
Now all I need is an excuse to make a REALLY BIG cake!! (I'm so in the mood!!!)
I've always been scared to try them. I've always used wood and had good luck, but then I found those hollow plastic dowels and loved them, and THEN I found hidden pillars, which I can't wait to try next, and now I want the stress-free support system that Earlene's website shows....
I think I'd still be afraid to try straws, though I get the physics of it...I have the sort of luck that if something bad can happen, it will...
That's very cool that you were brave enough to try them--plus, those wooden dowels ARE a pain to cut! 
That's very cool that you were brave enough to try them--plus, those wooden dowels ARE a pain to cut!
Its funny because I really WASN'T brave...I got to work and he was telling me to straw the cake and I was like 
.... He convinced me and so far in almost 6 months working there we've never had a cake fall.
It was really a relief to find out because they're so easy to use, and cheap, too!
Sorry this is long but I need to set the stage - my mom used to have a bakery & sold it. So she could decorate cakes on her own but still loved it so she went to work at a local gracery store. She would bring lots of orders in because of people who just followed her so they could say she did their cake. Mom had a customer come in & order her cake, mom made it & decorated it using wooden dowels. But then the store decided that she could not set it up because it would mean overtime. They let one of the other decorators set it. She took out the wooden dowels and put straws in their place.
The cake fell before the wedding ever took place. The bride's mother called my mom at home and told her what happened. They ended up letting the couple use one of the dummy cakes for pictures and gave them sheet cakes to serve. Mom knows the cake was sturdy while at the store because she had it set up for several hours before it was delivered. The mother of the bride lives across the street from me know & says she knows that it was the straws that caused the cake to fall. They found the bent straws in the wreckage.
I use the hidden pillars now and have for several years and will not use anything else. Please be careful if you use straws, not trying to say they won't/don't work but know what has happened when they were used. I don't know what kind was used so that could have be the problem.
She took out the wooden dowels and put straws in their place.
The straws were in, like, holes or tunnels in the cake from where the dowels were. When you use straws without shoving dowels in there first, the inside of the straw is filled with cake. Makes a big difference. ISTR that rebar uses this same principle.
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