
I've been watching and amazed at some of the creations..the Ship ! OMG !
But... wondering if anyone feels the same way I do about the actual "cake". I mean I got into the decorating after I felt I mastered the baking and the tasting of my cakes.
When they create a cake and then add all that Rice Crispy stuff "Does it taste good?" I mean it looks horrible and all those hands all over it and the one where they were just "shoving the cake" back into the structure? It made my stomach turn.. I would not eat that !
Am I just being picky (OCDish) or do you really do that ?
Please enlighten me or set me straight...
PS - On tonight at 10 pm....
Vicki

Ha ha ha! I'm not even going to try to set you straight, because I was watching a rerun of Amazing Wedding Cakes today, and someone said something about "It's a sculpture, and you can eat it!" I turned to my daughter and said "I wouldn't want to eat that after they've been touching it so much."
I'd be willing to bet that they use the cakes they make on tv for a display, and have sheets to serve. If they don't, then those people eating the cakes must have no clue about how that stuff has been handled, or they wouldn't be eating it!

EXACTLY !
I mean I am a clean/sanitary freak, and I wear plastic gloves when I do my fondant and such... I am usually on the edge of my seat watching those shows freaking out..thinking "are you serious.. why dont you just lick your fingers while your at it" and you can eat the crispy structure? Really? I mean REALLY?

I feel exactly the same way! What the heck? Why doesn't the "Ace of Cakes" staff ever wear gloves? My other pet peeve is people wearing jewelry! Especially the Food Network people! Food safety and sanitary practices are so important. Yes, I'm a germ-a-phobic of sorts, and think they should be setting an example for the rest of us.

I watched a Food Network show the other day called "Chopped." A professional chef who was on there competing cut his finger and it was bleeding. Blood was actually running down his wrist, and he kept working!!! It was SO disgusting -- I couldn't believe that the judges didn't kick him off for that.

I watched a Food Network show the other day called "Chopped." A professional chef who was on there competing cut his finger and it was bleeding. Blood was actually running down his wrist, and he kept working!!! It was SO disgusting -- I couldn't believe that the judges didn't kick him off for that.
Exactly! What's up with people these days?

There was a woman in my cake decorating class at culinary school who had long fingernails with plenty of polish on them. The chef told her that she'd need to cut them and take the polish off if she wanted to take the class, since it was a sanitation issue. She refused, and actually dropped out of class to wait until the next term to take it when a different chef was going to be teaching it. I don't know if she thought that sanitation rules would change in that time or something...
Tie your hair back, wash your hands, and don't drop false eyelashes into my batter if you're going to be making my cake, thanks very much!


I know I saw one challengre ( and its a really old one) that the cake they made was the one they served. The put the finished product in the fridge. When they pulled it out the next day, they had to recover it with fondant. I don't get the sanitation either. My hair is covered and I can't tell you how often I wash my hands. Everytime I touch something, my hands get washed.

We were talking about this last night...I rarely get sick, and I realized that it might be because I'm always washing my hands.
I also thought of this thread last night when I was watching the cake -off show. At the end they were cutting the cake, but it looked like it was more of a ceremonial, picture-taking opportunity. They had cake on plates out for people to take, and the cake looked like it was still intact.
Maybe if someone on here has been on the show they can answer the question...Sheets or the actual cake they made on the show? Which one is served at the end?

Proper hand washing is the key to being sick free. I knew a doctor who worked in Africa with aids patients. She said sometimes an emergency would come up that didn't give her time to glove, so she would dive right in. But she has never been infected or sick due to proper hand washing techniques.

It looks like they served sheet cakes last week. The first episode where Bob was shoving bits of cake back onto the structure, I thought the same thing. Then I figured, he probably knew he wasn't going to win and he wanted to finish as much as possible realizing no one would eat it.
Now Ace of Cakes? That makes my stomach turn. Someone is always picking their ear, scratching their head or touching their face right before working on a cake. Never mind the half chipped nail polish. Yuck.



It's actually more sanitary not to wear gloves, the way most people do it. Not wearing gloves, they wash their hands...
Have you ever seen anyone washing the outside of the gloves?
I like when the person at the counter wears the same pair of gloves as they go back and forth between making customer's food, running the register, and taking money from the customer's hand. I thought the gloves were to keep the food safe, not to keep the staff's hands clean...

There was a woman in my cake decorating class at culinary school who had long fingernails with plenty of polish on them.
When I have girls come in and want to place an application, when applicable, I'll ask them, "Are you willing to cut your nails off to work here?" Most say yes, but I'm not sure if they're convinced I mean it.

Yeah, all the hands on the fondant, I don't like that either. It's still cake (that's supposed to be eaten).
On a side note, I cannot get into this show at all, for some odd reason. Despite the hygenic issues I love Ace of Cakes and most of the Challenges. Amazing Wedding Cakes I like but I will watch Ultimate for the decorators/artisits but the chef host they have is flat, too scripted and a bit cold. It feels very staged but I will watch it for the people they have on and the final outcome but I wind up skipping through most of it. . . . anyone else?

I feel the same way about these shows. They have their hands all over the cakes. It is disgusting. Now, a couple of the contestants are pretty clean, but for the most part, I think it is pretty gross.

Last time I checked, it was not against the law to not wear gloves. Bread bakers do not use gloves for obvious reasons. So, stop eating bread. If you believe that it is gross to prepare food with just bare hands, you should never go out to eat ever again. This is a fact of life and the only thing you can wish for is that the person washes their hands regularly. Gloves have pores and there is a reason why you have to change them out so often. Just a thought. We washed our hands so many times during the show and was second nature. Hardly gross.

Last time I checked, it was not against the law to not wear gloves. Bread bakers do not use gloves for obvious reasons.
Gloves need to be worn when touching foods that will not be cooked. Most (and not all, but most) cooking processes will kill bacteria. Some foods are high risk foods, and gloves should be worn during the cooking process (i.e. chicken).
My HD guy was in my shop when I was making cookie dough balls, wearing gloves. He said, "You know you don't have to wear those gloves for that part, since you're going to cook the dough." I told him, "That's all well and good, but please don't come in here and tell my girls not to wear gloves. I dont' want them to think about when it's ok and when it's not. If the rule is they always wear them, then I know they will always have them on when they need to."
So I can handle unbaked dough all day long with no gloves. But once it's baked, I better have gloves on when I'm touching the food.
In my state, my understanding is that if I don't want to wear gloves, I have to apply for a special exemption with concrete reasons why, and the request has to be approved. Otherwise, when he walks in the door and if I'm touching baked goods, I better have gloves on.
Gloves have to be changed every so often because you are touching stuff with them and the glvoes become contaminated, just 's like your hands would, which is why you have to wash your hands every so often, also. I mean, you can't go all day without washing your hands and you can't go all day wearing the same pair of gloves. Thats just common sense.
As with any of these discussions, each state may have different rules and guidelines, and I'm sharing the rules in my area, as I understand them. And in my state, it IS 'against the (health dept) law' to touch baked goods with your bare hands.

This is true indydebi. It is what governs your state. It is a matter of common sense. As far as fondant is concerned I don't wear gloves. And just to be a shocker, I did not wear them on UCO! OMG rolled fondant without gloves on and I am GROSS now! My goodness!
I am saying that just because one wears gloves, does not mean they are using them corrrectly.


I am saying that just because one wears gloves, does not mean they are using them corrrectly.
Oh I totally agree with you on that one! I can scratch my butt with or without gloves on!

This is why I loves you!

This is true indydebi. It is what governs your state. It is a matter of common sense. As far as fondant is concerned I don't wear gloves. And just to be a shocker, I did not wear them on UCO! OMG rolled fondant without gloves on and I am GROSS now! My goodness!
I am saying that just because one wears gloves, does not mean they are using them corrrectly.
I wasn't saying that you are gross...What I was saying was gross was when the food; ie rice crispys or cake or whatever is getting shoved into spaces and it is just sloppy and gross. Like the stuff Stevie does on her cakes....That is gross.

Last time I checked, it was not against the law to not wear gloves. Bread bakers do not use gloves for obvious reasons. So, stop eating bread. If you believe that it is gross to prepare food with just bare hands, you should never go out to eat ever again. This is a fact of life and the only thing you can wish for is that the person washes their hands regularly. Gloves have pores and there is a reason why you have to change them out so often. Just a thought. We washed our hands so many times during the show and was second nature. Hardly gross.
I'm no fan of gloves in terms of proving that your hands are clean, I don't care as long as you wash your hands as much as you need to.
Maybe you can answer the original question, if you were on the show. Do they serve the cake that's actually being made on the show, or are there sheets that are substituted for the actual serving-to-the-public part at the end?

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