A cake decorating chemistry question

littleredspot

There's a rule in cake decorating that you shouldn't stick wires like these

http://www.carnmeal.com/Craft-and-Florist-Wire.asp

or pins like these

http://www.koch.com.au/p/1_12_1151/floral-essential-pins

directly into cakes.

The reason often given is that they will corrode and poison people, or corrode to the extent that they'd break up and then be swallowed. Another reason given is that they simply aren't "food safe" which is a term that no one seems to be able to be more specific about.

What do you scientists think of this?

krd

littleredspot wrote: »

The reason often given is that they will corrode and poison people, or corrode to the extent that they'd break up and then be swallowed.

They won't corrode - and the corrosion wouldn't be much of a problem. You literally have to leave the cakes for months before you'd get anything considerable in the cake. And even then it wouldn't be poisonous.

The problem with cake decorations is, you'll always have some idiot who tries to eat them. So, always make your cake decorations from edible material - or at least stuff that won't kill people if they swallow it.

Another reason given is that they simply aren't "food safe" which is a term that no one seems to be able to be more specific about.

Say you make a wedding cake, and you think you're being really cute and you put a Barby and Ken doll "system" on top. Most people will get the joke - but you'll always have one who thinks "I'm going to bite the head off Barbie"...And if they do so, they will choke and die....Which isn't a bad thing, in the general scheme of things......But might be, if you made the cake and people blame you.

What do you scientists think of this?

We don't think....We just know stuff........Thinking is for hairdressers.

bduffy

From a corrosion point of view, the corrosion rate (or speed at which the wire will react) is dependant on some critical factors: The metal type (generally, the cheaper the metal the more likely it is to corrode), the available area of the metal (the amount of exposed wire), the environment (moisture level and importantly the pH or acidity of the cake).
You could write a thesis on it, but essentially the taste of dissolved metal would spoil the food, especially if it was left in the cake over a weekend for example.
Plastic coated decorations would be best, assuming that the plastic isn't porous and doesn't leach unwanted chemicals (bis-phenols are regularly used, but there are health issues).
As with anything like this (as you most certainly are very aware), always assume someone will do somthing silly and eat the decoration.
This answer probably doesn't address your question fully, but it's an interesting problem :-)

littleredspot

Thanks for the replies. Different countries have different rules about it. In the UK it's strictly not allowed, it's suggested that you use something like this to put the wire into
http://www.cakecraftshop.co.uk/shop/products/id/kni1008l408.htm

Whereas in The US it seems to be allowed to put them directly in.

I'm currently in a debate on a cake decorating forum about it, I just find it hard to believe that the metal could impart anything into the cake over the course of say a week.

It has been suggested that fruit cake in particular would be an acidic environment.

I suppose, as with a lot of things, it's a better safe than sorry approach.

bduffy

Yep, different countries, different rules.
Real (Scientific) Answer: Try it with one yourself and see if you can taste the metal. Leave it for a week in the acidic fruit cake (especially if there has been alcohol added....personal favourite) and get a second opinion.