I love AOC! I think Duff is very talented & funny and he has obvioulsy carved a niche out for himself & his company in the cake community. I would love to have an ounce of his talent.......


BUT......

I watched an episode last night (not sure if the US gets the same show at the same time as we do in Canada). It was the one where Duff dressed as a pink elephant to deliver the baby toy cake to twins. The parents had stacked a whole bunch of the kids fav toys together and took a pic and asked Duff to recreate it. They did an amazing job on that cake. It was freakin'awesome! The also did a library cart, and the Liberty book (sorry if I got the title wrong). I was a little shocked with the fact that the construction for some of their items are made right where/beside the cakes are decorated. They are drilling, staining and sanding the book shelf for the library cart (out of wood) right beside another work area where cake is. Anyone worried about dust, wood particals, contaminating the food?
Then Duff goes to deliver the baby toy cake, and he is in a costume and lord knows how many people have worn that costume, and it's touching part of the cake (trunk rubbed up against the cake). Its a furry costume, so hair/lint/fuzz is around the cake. Seems a little unhygenic to me. He still had to put the cake together at the house, all the while wearing the elephant costume.

Just saying.......


had to add: Duff's laugh is the best.......

I totally agree. I love Duff and the gang but I have often wondered about the dust. I thought the 'sanding' area would have been in a different room but I think it's just a corner of the bakery so all the sanded particles of styrofoam dust would be floating in the air and landing on other cakes.

I also saw Elena hold a paintbrush in her mouth during one episode while she was making a dog cake. I thought that was quite unhygienic.

Yeah...others have commented on the staff in the bakery not tying hair back etc....pretty laid back atmosphere.

i know that hairnet/hair tied back, and the other thinkgs you've mentioned are nonos but on the grander scheme of unhigenic/not clean-have you seen how freaking spotless their work areas are and the floors and everything else?!?!? to me that's more important/a bigger sign of their cleanliness than an artist putting her paintbrush end in her mouth (atleast she's not van goh using the other end to get a finer tip-look how he ended up!) remember too that all the shows are edited so what looks like it's happening in one day is probably spread over at least a week and i absolutely LOVE duff's laugh too (and i did see that episode too)

Yaknow, I always thought that I was pretty food safety crazed. Then someone pointed out that the cake is gonna sit out on display wherever it is and be exposed to whatever. Seriously, I think if you guard against cross contamination and use reasonable food safety measures, there just aren't problems. Americans are generally nuts about cleanliness - more so than a lot of cultures.

I'll probably get flamed, and I really do run a clean operation and have 12 years worth of food sanitation inspections to prove it. But when I read about people cleaning their kitchens with qtips, I gotta think we've crossed over into OCD-land.

If Duff's crew can have this stuff they do on TV where I'm sure it's seen by their local health inspectors and don't have to worry, then maybe we should lighten up a little bit. Not run a dirty kitchen and certainly not take any real risk with food safety, but at least we're not washing our dishes (like the spinach packagers) with Salmonella contaminated water.

Just sayin'.

I'm not very experienced so maybe I shouldn't comment, but I agree with Leah. I walked into a full-scale bakery last year to pick up some rolls for branding. She had me come in the back door of the kitchen. I was somewhat shocked to see the grease and flour everywhere and pans lying about. I figured a licensed kitchen would be super clean and shiny but my own home kitchen was cleaner than that kitchen! But I have bought oodles of yummy donuts and rolls from her and I have to cut her some slack because she bakes tons of stuff everyday! Plus she obviously passes her inspections.
I am trying to agree with Leah...I'm not sure it is coming out right! This is why I should just not comment!

I've always wondered about the health inspectors opinion of CCC after the episodes where someone brought in the dog that inspired a cake design and an employee brough in his own dog to the shop.

Seriously, guys, I ASSURE you that your home kitchen is way cleaner than any restaurant kitchen. Commercial food packaging laws actually set the standard for how much . . . uh . . . "crap" . . . can be in your food and it is still considered safe.

Well, over the years, I have been in one restaurant kitchen that was cleaner than mine. I was pretty amazed. And complimented the chef.

I started wearing bandanas like those gals in Cali do on Amazing Wedding Cakes....along with the pony-tail it really keeps the hair out of my face! (And the frosting out of my hair!)

I think AOC's bakery is pretty clean, but I AM bothered by the loose hair. And call me shallow, but I don't like my bakery people to have greasy hair and hairy pits while hanging over my cake.

I think I have a pretty darn clean kitchen at my store....BUT you should see it when I'm in the middle of baking and decorating! Not that anything is "dirty".... but sometimes it looks like a "cake" tornado has hit!

By the end of the day everything is back to neat and clean and ready for the next storm!