Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Just seeing on FB a cake damaged in transit, two teir transported on lap by customer, lots of resulting talk about whether to centre dowel all the way through or not.
What does Paul do and recommend? Is a wooden dowel food safe, I always thought not. Also if you centre dowel do you pre cut a hole in the cake cards, I assume you must, but that is not easy either.

Any wisdom out there?

Hi Sue

Wooden centre dowels can be made food safe by covering them up with either food grade plumbers piping ( plumbers piping for water) or with big fat bubble straws. Some wooden dowels are food safe.
However there are lots of other ways to centre dowel. Here’s one inexpensive, easy and food safe way:
http://www.sturdycakestackers.com/
home made version here:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/little-cherry-cake-company-t-cakes/how-to-centre-dowel-a-cake/481752511851168
Some information for wooden dowels and corrugated cake cards here:

Central dowel

Paul has used wooden frames in some tutorials which he has covered up with clingfilm to make them foodsafe. I was sure he used a centre dowel in one of the tutorials, I searched for it and can’t find. On the whole he uses the nine plastic dowel method. He has also used bubble straws. I haven’t seen him use stacking systems although Dawn Butler has introduced her cake frame on the site. It’s a stacking system and system for gravity defying cakes. All the details are listed under her tutorial.

Hope some of this stuff helps, there’s loads more information online if you google ‘ centre dowelling cakes’ or ‘cake construction systems’. x