I am making a wedding cake that has 3 tiers and I need to leave a gap between the tiers to place flowers. I have read about dowels to support the layers, but will it be sturdy enough just with dowels suppporting the next layer with a gap?

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I would use plates and pillars. Dowels scare me to death as they can shift and the whole thing would come crashing down.

If I am leaving gaps in between for flowers, I would use the columns instead of dowels or straws.... Wouldn't be strong enough.. plus each layer has to have a separator plate in between which work with the columns

See this similar thread for add'l responses and suggestions: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-620509.html