well the nick jr. cake i made (check my photos) was a huge hit and everyone ooooo-d and ahhhhh-d and yummmmm-d appropriately but i was on the phone with my mom today and she told me that one of the people who ate it came up to her (by the way this was an office party for her boss's kid) and said that i need to put up a disclaimer that i used toothpicks in the figures because apparently someone tried to eat a figure and almost hurt himself on the toothpick. when i delivered the cake i told a room full of about 12 people that the figures did have internal supports like toothpics to hold their heads on. they all nodded and understood. did i really need to put up a sign? is this guy stupid? and i what i really want to know....who the heck picks up a 3" chunk of sculpted fondant and just starts chomping away at it????????? anyone actually put a disclaimer? anyone ever have something like this happen to them???

Ihave had that happen. Not with a fondant figure, but with the handle on the teapot I made my aunt. I warned everyone in the room as you did. Well.... my brotherasked about the handles blah blah blah. I finally said " It's cake. I very well can't duct tape the handle on or use super glue. DUH!!!"

You would think that common sense would kick in with people at some point, but unfortunately often it does not! I had something similar happen with the flip flips in one of the cakes in my pics. I put a label on each cake box/invoice that has my info on it and now include with these types of cakes, "Fondant decorations may be secured with non-edible, but food-safe items, such as skewers or toothpicks. Please remove before consumption."

Someone once mentioned here on CC that it is the same as restaurants puttnig "Contents May Be Hot" on a coffee cup!" Everytime I see it I think DUH!

boy thats tough- i always try to convey to the "host" what the internal support issues might be- and obviously on some more complex cake s they could be many- I wonder what the "big guys do?

i saw somewhere on this site a while back "common sense ins't so common". it's oh so true unfortunately. i think in this situations you gave a disclaimer. you did great!

If you told everyone, then I don't know you'd think that was disclaimer enough, but some people. I'm trying to move towards the raw spaghetti instead of toothpicks, particularly on kids cakes cause at least then it's still edible.

I guess a disclaimer has to do when just smacking them in the head for being dumb won't do

haha when I am talking to brides about gumpaste flowers and how they are technically edible but not intended to be eaten I say something to the effect of "completely edible except for the toothpick it is built on. and if you have kids eating toothpicks you have bigger problems!" it always gets a laugh because it is ridiculous. like this guy.

Sadly, in this day and age of stupid lawsuits, it's probably a good idea to have a written disclaimer and/or a single person responsible for serving who removes ALL decorations with non-edible supports before anyone can eat anything.

I, too, use spaghetti whenever possible. Debbie Brown suggests making "sugar" toothpicks out of pastillage.

Technically, any decoration on a toothpick or wire is no longer considered edible. That same decoration on a paper lollipop stick or uncooked spaghetti can still be called edible.

HTH
Rae

I would be so afraid to use something nonedible in a cake. The cakes with the twisted wire and fun little baubbles are so cute, but I would be terrified that a little piece broke off into the cake or something.

Some people have no clue that there could be nonedible items in a cake and wouldn't even think that there would be (obviously non-cake decorators!) and wouldn't think twice about eating a decorative part of a cake. I was talking to my husband about this and he was just shocked that people would use wire or skewers in the cake, that you are just asking for a lawsuit and the end of your career.

I think I would stop making cakes with any type of inedible support unless I had very good liability insurance, and still then someone could get seriously hurt.

This is a tough one!

I have decided I'm just disclaiming everything. I guess some people might not understand what goes into the making of some parts of cakes. I can see that I suppose. I can't believe how careful you have to be these days.

This follows an incident at the coffee shop I used to own. A woman came in and ordered a "Frozen Peanutbutter Mocha" which was this yummy drink we used to make. As I handed it to her she said (and no...I'm not kidding) "Now there's no real peanutbutter in this right? Because I'm allergic to peanuts." I took the drink from her hand and informed her that we are not peanut free and I didn't think I should serve her anything under the circumstances. After she leaves, the girl that was working for me just looked at me and said "no WAY that just happened." We cracked up. I mean seriously...

HOWEVER that's one of the stupid people that then sue you so as I stated before, I'm disclaiming EVERYTHING.

In fact, I would like to state the following:
DISCLAIMER
"The prior statement not intended to offend any peanut allergic people. If, in fact, it did offend any people with peanut allergies it was entirely accidental and no fault of the person making the statement. The statement also was not intended to offend any stupid people. If it did it was also accidental, and let's face it, they might not even have known because they are...well...stupid."

It's the same with the woman who sued McDonalds a few years ago because the coffee that she got was too hot and she burned herself!! You just want to put the big "L" sign in the middle of your forehead when someone asks you something like this!!

I would say that if you are using anything that is non-edible, put a disclaimer in writing (even a sticker on the box may be good enough, but you may want to ask your insurance agent) - a verbal warning is not good enough these days (unfortunately).

actually, that McDonalds franchise was found at fault in that case because they knowingly kept their coffee about the "safe" temperature they were meant to keep it at. Admittedly the woman STILL should have had some fault for driving with the coffee in her lap, but we all do stupid things from time to time.

If the guy wasn't in the room when you told everyone about the toothpicks, how was he to know? I wouldn't expect it if I didn't know how it was assembled. You can try dry spaghetti to do the same thing.

The woman in the McDonald's case was 81 years old. While removing the lid to add cream and sugar, she spilled the coffee, causing third-degree burns on her groin, inner thighs and buttocks. She spent 7 days in the hospital and required SKIN GRAFTS!

McDonalds's had seen these injuries before and even settled previous claims for damages--to the tune of $500,000. They KNEW that they had a problem--coffee was being brewed well above the recommended temp and they weren't telling stores to cool it down, nor were they warning customers that spilling the coffee on themselves could result in 3rd degree burns

The article from the plaintiff's attorney's is here: http://www.vanosteen.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm

Actually the McDonald's case is a good one to cite--if you know about a potential problem, either because you've experienced complaints about it, or you are aware that there have been complaints/problems to others about it, you can very easily be seen as liable. It's basically called "being on notice" and it means that if you don't try to eliminate the problem with a warning or accepted solution, you will lose if someone decides to come after you.

Rae

So I assume that everyone who is building tiers is using a disclaimer because of the dowels that are used as a support? I can't think of anything edible that would hold that much weight without cracking (peppermint sticks, etc.) I always tell the cake eater to be aware that there are supports in the cakes. So far no complaints.

I think the dowels are not as much of an issue since I just don't see someone not noticing them when the cake is cut. but the figures are usually cut - so if someone takes a bite, that could be a masty surprise