i am doing a wedding cake and i want to use separator plates instead of cardboard, because i think it will be easier to put together. do i need to put dowel rods under my tiers? the cake is a 14,10,&6 stacked cake. the bride wants each tier to be off center. like stairsteps. please help. thanks

Yes, you definitely need dowels in all the tiers (excep the top, of course)

Otherwise the weight of the cake will not be supported.

Here's an easy way to stack, will leave 1-3 inches of space, so not really pillars but not touching either. I bought the 5" so there would be finger room but not height.

http://www.sweetc.com/Cat/Set8/086.pdf