My son and husband have a cubscout cake decorating contest coming up. He wan'ts it to be muli tiered like 3 to 5 tiers but we are not allowed to use any non edible items. Any ideas of what could be used in place of the normal cardboard and dowel rods to hold up the layers?

Surely you can use something for structural support.  The cake board will have to be non-edible too.  I can't imagine what else you could use, and it would surely collapse into itself without support.  I would call and see if you are allowed to use non-edibles for support.  Maybe someone else will have suggestions.  Good luck!!

make each tier anywhere from 1 to 2 inches tall for a 5 to 3 tier cake (respectively)

use gingerbread for the bottom 'board'

but you do kinda need a cardboard under there on the bottom

but you could use some twizzlers for 'dowel' that have been left out to dry nice & straight

but test it first and you wouldn't want to assemble it any time too soon so the twizzlers had any time to possibly soften up either

the short tiers will look good if you proportion the tiers in kind

for example start with a 10 inch bottom cake and do maybe a

4 x 5.5 x 7 x 8.5 x 10 that would be pretty cool (each tier just about one inch tall)

an idea is to cut out the different sized shapes out of newspaper

use books about that thickness to stack it all up and get some ideas maybe

Instead of twizzlers, what about using the hard candy sticks?  I like the idea of using gingerbread as cake boards, maybe several layers?

I also agree with the first reply that it seems odd that they wouldn't allow any structural components.  It is worth checking.

that rule has got to be about adding toys and ribbons and such for the decorations. 

but good looking out on the candy sticks! very creative thinkning!

the gingerbread and candy sticks.. great idea! I did double check with the rules.. the only thing that can be non edible is the bottom cake board. I think it's a terrible idea when it comes to structure but it is the rule.

At least they let you use a cake board, that's mighty nice of them :)  Good luck, sounds like a challenging project!

If you coat your gingerbread 'board' in chocolate, a couple of layers I'd say, it'll help stop the moisture of the cake softening it, you could also try a big sugar cookie, they bake fast, are cheaper to make and if you deliberately overbake it it will be really hard

For internal support I'd suggest taking out the whole middle of your tier like coring an apple and in its place put a pillar of RKT, pack your RKT into something tube shaped with the end of a rolling pin so its really strong and coat it in chocolate. Then pop it in the hole and there you have an edible internal support!

I cant wait to see what you make!!!!

oh brilliant!!! RKT is deffinatly an awsome idea!

I like the RKT idea too. If I used the straight candy sticks (also a great idea), I think I'd make pastillage, roll it out, cut different sized circles to use as cake boards resting on the candy sticks. Pastillage dries rock hard.

rice cripsy treats!

AHaha not sure what flavors you are doing....but how about candy canes or thick chocolate dipped pretzels for dowels and giant rounds of peanut brittle for the plates? :). Yummmm...might not work though....