I was wondering about the stability of a cake that uses the cake seperator plates and pillars. I have not used these yet as I usually use the cake board seperators and dowels or bubble tea straws for supports. My question is if you were doing a four or five tier cake with the plates, do you need to worry about the cake sliding because there is no center dowel. I thought that was the main piece that kept all of the layers standing straight instead of possible sliding or tilting to the side???? Am I confused? You cant put a center dowel through a plastic plate right?
Sorry for the stupid questions but I want to stack properly!
You can drill a hole in the center of all your plates, larger than the center dowel you will use, of course.
the center dowel is to help with support while the cake is being transported. Once you set the cake up at the facility, it's not going to move, so you don't need the center dowel. You need a good support system ... be it dowels, straws or leahs SPS system.
I started making cakes in the late 70's when NO ONE ever had just a short, "squatty looking" stacked cake. All cakes had pillars, plates, stairs and fountains. I'd never heard of a center dowel until a couple of years ago. I've done LOTS of 4, 5 and 6 tier cakes with pillars .. never a center dowel.
If your cakes start to slide and fall after they are set up, you have more problems than a center dowel can fix. 
And with a center dowel, you run the risk that if things start shifting, you may lose the whole cake. Whereas with each tier doweled, if things start slipping, it effects those tiers, not always the whole cake. You may lose one tier instead of all. I hope that makes sense....
thanks indydebi! I have never actually had this problem but I was just really worried about transporting a tiered cake of that size! I have never done that before and am struggling to decide if I can transport it assembled or if I need to deliver it unassembled and finish decorating on site. I just feel like I will be nervous with people watching me do it so I was trying to avoid it. Thanks for the info! 
steph
thanks indydebi! I have never actually had this problem but I was just really worried about transporting a tiered cake of that size! I have never done that before and am struggling to decide if I can transport it assembled or if I need to deliver it unassembled and finish decorating on site. I just feel like I will be nervous with people watching me do it so I was trying to avoid it. Thanks for the info!
steph
Steph, I wouldn't deliver that size cake assembled (4 or 5 tier), there are a lot of things that could go wrong.
Maybe assemble the bottom 2 tiers and have the pillars/supports in the other tiers, so that when you get there you just fit each plate onto the 4 pillars. I use those plastic plates/pillars all the time (since 198
, but I always assemble on site for a cake this size. Why don't you call the venue and ask how early you can deliver so that you avoid having an audience if you're not comfortable working like that.
Good luck
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%