Where does everyone go to get the centre dowels from? Is it thicker than the normal dowels which are sold in the cake shops? I am guessing that it is the thickness of a broom handle. If it doesn't have a hollow centre, won't the cake be pushed / squashed out as you're sticking it in?

Hi there, I haven't seen anywhere in UK! Never seen anyone using them in UK either!

The american cake decorators use the centre dowels as they need to travel a very long distance to deliver cakes. Its really not a neccesary to use it. I use normal dowels and and a little bit of royal icing under each tier to make it stable. If you have to travel long distance, why not go the venue and stack them?

HTH.