Hello, I havent done a cake in 2 years so I am a bit nervous since I have taken on the job of making my brothers wedding cake in 3 weeks. I am making a 8x3, 10x3, 12x3, 14x3 with a 16x3 styrofoam bottom square wedding cake.

I am baking the cakes labor day weekend and freezing then traveling 5 hours to dallas for the wedding the next weekend. I have bought bubble tea straws for the support and doubled my cake boards for the bottom of the cakes. I am worried about the cake being so heavy and having to travel 20 miles in Dallas Texas heat in Sept with the cake with it pre-assembled for delivery.

My question is how wide of a center dowel rod do I need for this cake? I was told 1" 1 1/2" and 2", Please help me with this.

Thanks

I believe the center dowel will only give support so the tiers don't shift off center.They don't support weight or tiers.
I don't think bubble tea straws are sufficient support for the layers on your list

thanks for the reply, I have always used wooden dowel rods for support and this is the first time I will be using the bubble tea straws.

Should I not use the tea straws on the cake I am making?

I am worried about the weight of the cake holding each other up, I want the best way to support this cake, any help is greatly appreciated

the cake will be WASC with buttercream icing/filling

8, 10, 12, 14 /3 inch cakes torted/filled with the 16 being styrofoam

I would not risk it, get the SPS System, it's the best thing ever!

If they are the proper bubble tea straws and not just 'Maccas' ones they hold HEAPS of weight.

I had an engineer try and explain it to me - was still gobbledegook to me but in essence it was to do the the small diameter and he was saying that it takes a lot of downward force. You do need to ensure that it is place exactly vertical for this though. If they enter the cake on an angle then they are less stable.

I was always TOO nervous to use them in our heavy Australian mudcakes but had spoken to many. many colleagues who had used them. I have used them in 3 tier HEAVY mudcake/ganache situations - some of these babies weigh 30+kgs

I always use a central dowel - only about 12mm diameter - it is glued into the base board - each cake sits on its own pre-drilled wooden board- cakes are covered and threaded OVER the central dowel (in a heavy cake such as ours, it does help to pre-core the central dowel position by pushing a bubble tea straw from the top down before lifting it on to central dowel)

The central dowel does stop cake shifting - BUT more importantly it makes sure all your tiers are PERFECTLY placed - no need to try and measure whether they are square or 'centred' - the central dowel ensures this