AI made a two tier cake. Bottom was a round ten inch white chocolate mud with raspberry SMBC, fondant covered. I refrigerate all my cakes, as i live in a low humidity area and don't have a problem with condensation.

When I went to dowel my bottom tier, using bubble tea straws - I could not push the straws down into the cake! I was twisting them to try to help, but no luck. If I just pushed down as hard as I could, the straws would just eventually bend rather than slide down further. I was trying to grip them as low as possible but that didn't work either.

Then I tried make the hole first with an uncut straw using the pointy end, thinking this might have a better chance of getting through the cake. No luck. I heated a straw in hot water. Didn't help.

So I grabbed some large wooden skewers, and used those to poke holes, thinking once the hole was made the straw might go in. Didn't work. I pushed the straw in as far as I could, then slid the skewer down the centre of the straw and into the cake, and then 'swirled' the skewer around as much as I could, to displace as much cake as possible...stoopid straw still would not budge.

I swear there was some sort of bubble tea straw black magic / voodoo involved. Lol.

So at this point I ditched the straws and used the wooden skewers to dowel instead. They worked fine.

But I am working on a three tier cake today, twelve inch base, same white chocolate mud recipe. I can use wooden skewers to dowel again, but my preference is always bubble tea straws.

Does anyone have any tips / suggestions / ideas on getting straws through very cold and dense cake?

It can take some muscle sometimes. Mine are generally chilled thru pretty well when I put the straws in to. I just work them in, eventually they make it.