TV Cake Handling a little nasty.

What's with the Cake Boss bare-handling all the ready to eat cakes and pieces in his commercial kitchen? Granted, unless I'm getting Cake Boss prices, I don't think I'd want to fully make a cake like that wearing gloves either.  

What is a cake boss?

What he said, what is a cake boss?

It's a TV show:
http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/cake-boss/

I'm sick & tried of all these Shake & Bake Cake and Cupcake shows. They're boring, not to mention stupid!

I used to make fancy decorated cakes (just for us, not for sale), many years ago. One of my Kids favourite birthday cake was a paddle wheeler based on the one in Chattanooga. The other one they liked best was a Haunted house on a hill (Their birthday is a few days before Halloween). If I had access to the gloves that I have nowadays, I would have used gloves. All that icing, food colouring and grease was just yukky from my end of things. If I had been making it to sell... I would have wanted to use gloves. I don't like to think about what circumstances my food is prepared under. We had a family friend who made cakes for a living. She used gloves. She said it was to keep her hands from being stained but she used gloves thru the whole process. She made my wedding cake as a wedding gift.
 
Have any of you guys been disgusted with the fancy upscale chefs that they often portray on the food network shows. There's a couple shows where they feature a chef, in their upscale fancy kitchen (often in the fancy resorts)  and they taste and touch the food repeatedly. Wipe the rims of the plates off with the rag they just wiped the counter with. Kinda grosses me out. Lots of "I can't believe they just did that on TV" type stuff... And this was BEFORE we got into the food business and learned so much of the Don'ts! I try to avoid the Food Channel now. It's like when we used to remodel houses and we would watch HGTV... sit and yell at the TV ("Morons! That's..." fill in the blank with  unsafe... stupid... WRONG... etc)

I miss seeing cakes that were classics: Black Forest, German Chocolate. Sicilian Cassata, Baked Alaska, Beesting, Red Velvet, Sacher Torte. Get the idea?
 
All these "artsy" things with all their chemicals and sugars, and pastes..i would not want to eat them. They are pretty to look at, but not in the last appetizing to me.
 
I am not talking about cakes we make at home..i have done theme cakes too.
 
I know i am do not havea popular opinion on it as many people i know LOVE those cake boss and theme cakes that seem way too lovely and such to even taste.

lornaschinske


I used to make fancy decorated cakes (just for us, not for sale), many years ago. One of my Kids favourite birthday cake was a paddle wheeler based on the one in Chattanooga. The other one they liked best was a Haunted house on a hill (Their birthday is a few days before Halloween). If I had access to the gloves that I have nowadays, I would have used gloves. All that icing, food colouring and grease was just yukky from my end of things. If I had been making it to sell... I would have wanted to use gloves. I don't like to think about what circumstances my food is prepared under. We had a family friend who made cakes for a living. She used gloves. She said it was to keep her hands from being stained but she used gloves thru the whole process. She made my wedding cake as a wedding gift.

Have any of you guys been disgusted with the fancy upscale chefs that they often portray on the food network shows. There's a couple shows where they feature a chef, in their upscale fancy kitchen (often in the fancy resorts)  and they taste and touch the food repeatedly. Wipe the rims of the plates off with the rag they just wiped the counter with. Kinda grosses me out. Lots of "I can't believe they just did that on TV" type stuff... And this was BEFORE we got into the food business and learned so much of the Don'ts! I try to avoid the Food Channel now. It's like when we used to remodel houses and we would watch HGTV... sit and yell at the TV ("Morons! That's..." fill in the blank with  unsafe... stupid... WRONG... etc)

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I do not mind if taste the food after, but they keep on tasting the food during the show. I prefer the old cooking shows..Julia Child, Justin's Cajun Cooking, Jacques Pepin, the Frugal Gourmet..etc. Nor do i care for people having an orgasm after they taste their food. Nigella was a bit on the irritating side. We understand, and yes, the food is good, but it just seems over the top to me.

Analei------------right on !!!!!
It isn't cooking it's TV.
The old shows could have real food prepared by simple methods------today's stuff has to be exotic.
 
I taped a lot of the Frugal Gourmet and Jacques Pepin and The Galloping Gourmet Part I-----and others---so when I had a craving for a real cooking lesson I would watch them. Unfortunately I lost them all in moving to Florida. 
Sad but true. 
 
 

I was always obsessive with cleanliness around food being prepared and have always been easily freaked out. My mom was both a clean freak and a very fine chef to our family.. I think she set a good standard by example for us.
 
80% of the Servsafe stuff seemed like it should just be common sense, scary but it's not. I've been in commercial construction for over 25 years and have renovated many a restaurant that I will never set foot in again because of what I have seen going on. 
 
There must be a way to profit, yet not have folks at risk unnecessarily. I understand this is just TV, but it goes on everywhere. I've not seen many of these shows but, of the few I have, I always wonder if the Health Inspectors ever watch TV?  

I have to agree about those shows and like JohnL I wonder about the health inspectors.
 
I've made cakes at home and I've never worn gloves, but I think that's a great idea because I hate all the grease too.
 
And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who wonders about the handling of food.   I'd hate to think a cake I ordered got fondling unnecessarily - I know decorating cakes is an art, but it's also food that people will consume.   I'd rather have a simple cake that was 'clean' than one that was passed around an touched by everybody.

JohnL

... 80% of the Servsafe stuff seemed like it should just be common sense, scary but it's not. I've been in commercial construction for over 25 years and have renovated many a restaurant that I will never set foot in again because of what I have seen going on...
 
... I always wonder if the Health Inspectors ever watch TV?  

I thought that the info in the Food Managers Class I took was common sense as well.  My Dad was a tile setter for over 50 years. There were many restaurants that he refused to eat in. And I know of a very famous restaurant in GA that we refuse to eat in because of what the kitchen and wait staff have told us about the place.
 
As for the Health Inspectors... I don't know if our current HD inspector watches but I do know he was very upset to find out that Bobby Flay does not know how to use a thermometer! Bobby Flay came to Socorro to do one of those Throw down shows in the little town just south of us (San Antonio).
 
Thanks Mamie... I now have a mental image of a guy in a raincoat with a huge wedding cake in front of him!
 
My daughter has said she want's me to make her wedding cake when she is ready to do that (we'll see). But I have often told her to pick a cake out of the Wiltons Idea Book and plan on the whole cake to be styrofoam except for the top layer (the part you save to eat on your 1sr anniversary). Then we would make several 1/4 sheet cakes to cut and serve the guests... that way she  can have several flavours of a GOOD tasting cake and not be serving those tiny slices. My wedding cake was supposed to serve over 600 people. I had under 200 close family and friends at my reception.  There was no cake left!

lornaschinske
 
I've done wedding and grooms cakes for all my nieces and nephews.  Most were baked fresh, but I did bake one ahead of time and after it cooled, I wrapped it and put it back in the pan and then wrapped each pan with foil and placed it in a plastic garbage bag to go in the freezer.   My mother and I did all the food, so I was doing what I could ahead of time.      With some I did sour cream pound cakes and used  different fillings in each layer, and some I  did with different flavor cakes.  
 
At the price of styrofoam, I think I'd just bake the cakes ahead of time.  The reason I would use styrofoam would be for a cake to serve only a few people where an additional layer was  needed to make a good presentation, i.e.,  the bottom or middle layer of a 3 tier cake.   
 
I haven't tried fondant yet, but there are a lot of beautiful designs that can be done without  making  roses, etc  in advance.   Stenciling and embroidery seem to be the new fad.