i have read on here that many of you use bubble tea straws instead of plastic dowels so i bought them online. but since then have read that you all put a dowel straight through the middle of the cake too. do i have to buy dowels for that job? it would need to be really long and strong enough to be pushed through a cake board. any tips on what you guys use and how you do it. would be much apreciated. as i would love to do tiered cakes.
thanks x

I use SPS, there is a great tutorial on this sight.
Good luck!

Yes - it will go through the cake board, just sharpen the end a little. If it is just a small 2 tier you can use a bamboo skewer. If it is taller you can get a longer dowel at a hardware store or Walmart. I do love the SPS for wedding cakes it is easy to use and very secure! HTH

SPS here too. I wouldn't dream of using anything else.

What is SPS???

SPS is great, but once you master levelling and delivering, bubble straws are a lot cheaper and quicker. I do use an SPS similar system myself on cakes over 4 tiers tall. And I can't even remember the last time I used a center dowel on any cake period. Just not necessary if you know how to handle your cake, and the servers love you for it.

I use a system called Stress free supports on my wedding cakes. Smaller cakes I just use dowels. I love this system. So easy to use and adjust the legs to the desired cake height. I started by purchase only two rings. The rings work for a large range of sizes so the two that I picked support 12,10,9,8,7,6,4,3 inch cakes. I just purchased another set of legs a little longer than the first for my taller cakes. You can also adjust two legs shorter or longer to get an angled or tilting cake. Was well worth the investment I wouldn't trust anything else with my wedding cakes. The first cake I tried it on took a two hour drive and down a bumpy road and arrived perfect. The last cake was delivered by my mother who doesn't take caution when driving like I do and the bride said it was perfect. I am one of those people who needs a will drive slow sign on the back of my car when I drive. LOL. http://www.stressfreecakes.com/public/learnmore

SPS = Single Plate System. It is really not very expensive and it is reusable. Leah_s wrote a tutorial on it.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-603925.html

thanks for replying everyone you have all been a great help.

I haven't read all the responses but:
the center dowel is one long dowel - several inches longer than the cake is tall and driven down thru all the tiers of the cake into the base board/support.
The thought is it will hold the tiers together, keeping them from sliding apart in travel. Good therory but does not always work
It is not always needed. If the cake is not going to be delivered or transported a very short distance; if the cake is only 2 tiers; if the tiers are not stacked (one directly on top of the other).
I have delivered many, many wedding cakes (stacked) w/o using one - some as far as 50 miles (maybe more).
I prefer to use one that is several inches longer so that when I get to the venu I have those extra inches to grab ahold of it and twist it out, then cover the hole w/a flower, leaf, deco or the topper.
Some prefer to make it an inch shorter so it can't be seen and leave it in the cake. This makes it harder for it to be cut/served

Sorry, but I have to ask. I am thinking that when the dowel is driven thru the cake and gets to the board it will some how damage the cake because of the board is hard. How do you do it with out damaging the cake?

You sharpen it with a pencil sharpener. It doesn't harm anything. I don't use them though.

I have to deliver a 3 tier buttercream wedding cake about 1 hour from my shop. I can just use the plastic dowels on each tier? What do you recommend?

SPS.