Just Say No To Wooden Dowels - And Save Your Cake!
Decorating By cakesbyallison Updated 9 Sep 2015 , 5:49am by Apti
wonderful cake -- so well done -- bravo, susangeorge
I think there needs to be some clarification here. Dowels driven thru 6 inches of cake--with no cake board between any layers and no support dowels under an interior cakeboard--really do nothing at all, especially when the dowel[s] don't penetrate the masonite [wooden dowels will just flatten out when hammered onto the masonite].
If full length dowels are inserted into the cake [and not "anchored" by a cakeboard in the cake somewhere, and then also penetrating the board the whole cake sits on], if the cake experiences a sudden jolt, the cake just tears away from the dowels that are "floating" in it.
Secondly, large bore straws don't "displace" cake. They form a cake plug, rather than pushing cake aside like wooden dowels do. Large bore straws are not used as full length/central dowels because they can't be sharpened and pushed thru cake boards or into base boards. Cake displacement is, however, very minimal and not an issue at all when inserting a sharpened central dowel that's piercing an internal cake board and the base board. Large bore straws for internal supports of upper tiers are stronger than wooden dowels [it's the physics of the hollow cylinder] and not prone to slippage like wooden dowels.
My earlier post was to strongly encourage an internal cake board and supports when constructing a cake of over 4" tall. Without an internal board and supports, you always risk the weight of the cake causing compression, distortion, and destruction of the entire cake. A "pole" down the middle can't stop the effects of gravity.
The final cake is lovely. I'm sure that it will make its' recipient very happy.
You're correct, maybenot. However, the 7 year-old original thread had very little to do with the question by Susangeorge1965; she was asking if she should dowel "after-the-cake-had-been-completed-already".
I don't usually advise the use of wooden dowels, but in this case, it was the least harmful to a completed cake and may provide against slippage of the layers when the cake is transported.
I prefer to use either bubble tea straws (bobo straws) on single tier cakes or smaller, 2-tier cakes, and SPS on larger tiered cakes.
The more I learned about cake and cake decorating, the more I found out there is no simple answer about dowels, or fondant, or buttercream. That's why I no longer have a guest room closet, I have a Cake Closet. That's why every other available space in my home exists for cake stuff, not regular stuff. You have to have about 5 ways to approach cake projects to get the best possible outcome.
I laugh like crazy when I think of my naiveté as I purchased my first 52-piece Wilton box in 2010. I turned to my niece who was with me, and said these fateful words: "Cool. Now I'll have everything I need to make birthday cakes and won't ever need to buy anything else!"
Silly. silly, me......
btw, Susan, this cake looks better each time I see it!!!
Yes, Apti, you're right, the thread took a right turn with the new question.
What I really tried to do was to take a very roundabout way of telling Susangeorge1965 that I would have taken the cake apart, added a cake board at 3" of cake, added support dowels, and re-assembled the cake because I don't stack over 4" without a board and supports.
That said, I didn't want her to go away from the thread with the idea that not having internal board and supports was a good way to go with a tall or a sculpted cake. Also, I didn't want to give her false hope that adding a central dowel[s] without other proper supports would make things A-OK, should the devils gravity and/or speed decide to take over the fate of the cake.
Had I made a cake like this, on a masonite board [I prefer cake drums or 3/4th inch foamcore for baseboards because sharpened wooden dowels can be pounded into those] and not put in internal supports before decorating it, I wouldn't have added any central dowel[s] after it was decorated. I personally wouldn't see the point.
Yep, many ways to skin a cat and make a cake.
Maybenot~~The last 10 years of my working career, I was an equipment specialist for children and adults with severe physical handicaps. It was a highly specialized field and we worked with thousands and thousands of possible parts that could be either pre-made or fabricated to meet specific needs for each client.
About once a year, manufacturers of the different companies would host a weekend and invite specialists to come up with solutions for very difficult clinical situations. Teams of 3 to 4 people would gather and come up with the best equipment solution, then all of the teams would compare and discuss the solutions. It was a crack up! Every single team came up with wonderful ideas and every single team had a totally different approach with different equipment.
Yep, many ways to skin a cat and make a cake (or wheelchair/seating system).
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