Is it gross to eat birthday cake (after the candles have been blown out)?

We've developed a new product that might help: http://www.CandlePuffer.com

Bare in mind that usually when celebrating a birthday you are around those you love. Old friends, your family, lovers. Even if there is saliva on your cake is it different fundamentally from accepting a kiss from one of these people? Someone you are comfortable enough to have cut cake with you in the first place. If anyone attending the party might be sick then that is a horse of a different color, but otherwise this sounds unbelievably petty. The human body contains approximately 50,000 bacteria per square inch, harmless, beneficial bacteria. There are literally pounds of bacteria held within YOUR own body. and trillions of different species (again SPECIES) of bacteria in your intestines. Bacteria cells in the body outnumber the human cells 10 to 1. When put into perspective what is a little spit?

DISGUISTING!!!!!!

LOL... This is hilarious and yet kind of gross at the same time.
Prior to reading this, It never even occurred to me. I think Diane has a good point though, you are much more likely to catch anything from dirty bathrooms doors, shopping cart handles, and other things encountered daily. But it really does make you think! I have never been sick after attending a party, but then again I skip the cake most of the time (not because of germs but because it's not my favorite thing on the menu). I say take the risk. Have the cake spit on and eat it too! (ew lol)

It never used to bother me, and then one day it hit me - we're taking a perfectly good cake, and adding melted wax, smoke, and spit to it!

It completely disgusts me now. I never, ever have candles on my cake. People can still sing to me and I can still make a wish, and I can actually eat my birthday cake with nothing gross added to it!

Celtic Thunder, you made me laugh and then you made me think!

In most cases, I'm not sure that blowing out the candles results in saliva on the cake. If you take a deep breath and put your hand a few inches from your face and blow very hard as though you are blowing out candles, all you feel is air.

But let's take a scenario where someone -- a child, maybe -- does a sloppier job of blowing out the candles, lol, and it does result in some saliva on a piece of cake. The answer would be yes, you could get whatever you would ordinarily get if you kiss that person -- a cold, a flu, etc -- but only those things that would commonly be transmitted by sneezing, coughing or saliva.

Interestingly, there is a product now that shields the cake -- from this or from candle droppings or anything else. It's called Cake Guard, and it's clear plastic with holes in it. You set it on top of the cake, place candles in the holes and you're set. After the candles are lit and blown out, you lift the cake guard off the cake to cut it:

http://www.cakeguardindustries.com/index.htm

Another company is attempting to submit its version of this -- which they call the Cake Condom -- to companies for review. In addition to candles, it has snap-in holes that allow you to add decorations:

http://emediawire.com/releases/2008/5/prweb962794.htm

Is all this much ado about nothing? Maybe. It's much more likely that you're going to catch a cold from a grocery cart handle, in an airport or when your kid brings a bug home from school. But perhaps if you know your child has a cold when it's his or her birthday, you could take precautions to keep the germs away from your guests as much as possible.

Oh, for the days when we just cared about how much frosting was on our piece of cake!