I'm going to attempt a castle cake for a friend in a couple weeks, but i really dont want to buy the Wilton kit. I'm stumped on what to use for the towers though. All i can think is toilet paper rolls covered in fondant, but i really dont think people would be happy with finding toilet paper rolls in their cake! So i think i'm going to resort to hardware stores and power tools again and see if something like PVC pipe will work. Anyone have any better suggestions? Or tips on how to keep the towers standing for an hour delivery car ride?

I made one and used ice cream cones for the towers and turrets. I used cake cones -glued together with royal icing end to end-for the towers with waffle cones covered in candy melts and rolled in pink sugar for the turrets.
I set the towers in royal icing and placed candy rocks around the base to keep them stable. I also stuck them to the (trimmed) corners of the cake with royal icing.

You can see it in my pix...it's one of the last ones on the bottom of the page.

My friend was delighted that it was all edible. I hope this helps.

RKT rolled into cylinders and top them with sugar cones (ice cream cones) Might be able to paint the sugar cones? .

If you have airbrush, I'd leave the RKT as they are and airbrush them... they might have that castle brick looking texture.

If you dont have an airbrush there are always the Wilton color spray mist... they work pretty good for something like that. Otherwise cover in buttercream and fondant color of your choice

On one castle cake that I made; I used the paper towel rolls. On the second one I did, I used Litte Debbie Swiss rolls covered in fondant. You can see both cakes in my photos.

Also, go to cake boss; they have a tutorial on how to do castle cakes.

On the castle I made I used paper towel rolls, and wraped them in pastillage, when harden removed the rolls. This works really good!

I felt the same way ... and I wanted to keep it all edible. I glued sugar cookies together with royal icing and then covered with fondant.

I Used Swiss rolls and attached with loads of buttericing and held in place with skewers

I made a castle cake once from the familyfun website....everyhting was edible. it was super cute for my young daughter. i tweeked it to fancy it up a little bit though.

I second the toilet paper rolls ... though I actually used paper towel rolls, wrapped in saran wrap. I covered them in gumpaste, let them harden, then removed the roll from the inside of the tower. Take a look at my castle cake in my pics ... I was even able to cut little windows into the towers, since they were hollow.

Use the paper towel roll and I second checking out the tutorial on cakeboss.com

Here's the link in case you want it:

http://www.cakeboss.com/CastleTutorial.aspx

I found a tutorial for a castle cake a while back, but the link no longer works. I had saved the pictures, fortunately. I hope this helps a little.

The Construction picture shows all the parts pretty clearly, and the completed Castle picture shows the position and decor for the parts.
I think it's simple and charming.

There are a thousand ways to decorate a castle cake. Whatever you do will be wonderful, I'm sure. Be sure and post pictures when you are finished

Thanks Patty!
And yes, be sure to post pics of the finished cake. Good luck!

-Emi.

You could also bake cupcakes and stack them with a dowel through the middle and a sugar cone on top. Instead of the cupcakes you could also bake cake in soup cans.

Thanks so much everyone! This was extremely helpful! Now i dont have to use power tools! Not that i have a problem with it....LOL!

I bought canned asparagus, and used the empty cans to bake the towers- worked great with dowels to hold them in place.

I had the same dilemma as you, those turrets are intimidating. Ditto with the paper towel rolls or aluminum foil rolls or parchment paper rolls. I find the last two more sturdier than the paper towel roll.

I have a tutorial on how I made the turrets for my nephew's castle cake.

http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/castle-cake.html

Hope this helps!

I also tried the whole castle idea for my daughter's third birthday and for the towers i used thick frosting and cupcakes. I wouldn't assemble that part until you arrive at the location. To thicken up the frosting I heated it up and added a little cornstarch and as it dried it became really thick and sticks well. I wished I would have used the mini cupcakes instead because the regular sized ones made quite thick towers but depending on the size of the round cakes it may look okay. 

When I made my grand daughters castle cakes, I made them out of styrofoam, used the rolls from saran wrap for the towers covered in fondant cut hole for windows and in one tower I  put a picture of the  birthday girl.   I did this because I knew that when the time came to cut the castle they would not want it cut,  Been there with a little boy and his train cake, and can't get the picture out of mind of the tears rolling down his cheeks and his crying to his grandfather who was honored with the first piece of cake, "put it back put it back"  it spoiled his birthday to have his train cake cut and eaten.  For my granddaughters, I made the castle, and placed it on a mountain, made with the doll pan, They ate the mountain, and saved the castles which have been the center piece   on the table for every birthday since.  My daughter in law has been asked to sale the castles, rent them out, because so many of the girls little friends wanted a castle cake like theirs. They are still using them, four and seven years later. The oldest one tells me she is going to have hers on her wedding cake.