Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Is it better to use a central dowel when transporting cakes 3 tiers and over?

Hi Julie Billington

It depends how tall each cake in the tier is. For normal 3 – 4 inch , if properly dowelled and well stuck down and correctly boxed, it shouldn’t be necessary to use a centre dowel. I’ve transported 4 tier cakes with minimum decorations without issues. Paul’s nine dowel method has never failed me.

However, it is stressful and I think to be stress free and safe, it’s worth taking the extra precaution if you feel at all uncertain. You could use an inexpensive cake stacking system and build the cost of it into the price of the cake. Take a peek at Sturdy Cake Stacker system here:
http://www.sturdycakestackers.com/

If using a wooden sharpened dowel, ensure the wood is treated as food safe.

Hope this helps. ?