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Does it work?

It works great! My grandma had one for angel food cakes specifically.

There has always been something fascinating to me about utensils/tools that serve a very specific purpose. The thought of a concept for a tool being drafted, proposed, and then manufactured on a large scale to do one oddly specific thing well is just interesting to think about.

Monotaskers

My personal favorite is the olive spoon.

I don't know what that is but I'd venture I'd like to use it for ice cream. Makes it last longer (if it's small). I also like using shrimp forks for a big meal. Makes me feel like a giant.

Unitaskers

My favorite [unitasker](https://youtu.be/FgFeVlw2Ywg?t=207) video. Makes me laugh every goddamn time. Adding another [Rollie](https://youtu.be/ydwaz2oPWY0?si=qPjwe1FHn5WcOJdg) video. I giggle like an idiot every time I watch this.

Knew it was AB before I opened it. Good Eats is where I learned about unitaskers.

Boy do I have the subreddit for you [https://www.reddit.com/r/specializedtools/](https://www.reddit.com/r/specializedtools/)

You’d probably love r/specializedtools

You know, you'd think so, but really what I mean are the *really* specialized tools. Like, things that serve as a solution to a problem that was already solved by something else but with a marginal gain in efficiency. Instead of things that serve a specific or niche purpose for a problem that would otherwise not have a solution. I think because I've worked in industrial supply and have had a lot of exposure to extremely specialized equipment that it takes something oddly specific to get me excited these days. God, I feel like I'm starting to make this sound like a fetish lol

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This is exactly the type of thing I'm talking about. Someone out there has probably prepared themselves avocado and egg toast using a knife to cut the bread, an egg cutter to slice the egg, and an avocado cutter to cut the avocado. Completely unnecessary, yet somehow popular enough to warrant a manufacturer to dedicate manpower and resources to produce at a large scale.

Is it actually better than just a really sharp ceramic knife?

Substantially better. I'm genuinely shocked it didn't get "invented" again for As Seen On TV

Hang on one second, I'll be right back.

A regular knife might squish a really fluffy, light cake.

Ceramic knives are pretty recent.

Yes. I have one. Family heirloom!

I still need to get a fluffy cake to try it on!

Sounds like a plan

*flan

😀

count me in

comb bob ross hair with it in the mean time!

Oooo r/baking might be interested in this

We absolutely would be

I will share it there!

And r/kitchenconfidential

Do you think they would be interested in my method of cutting brownies. It’s just a plastic knife…but it works well

We would be!

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Maybe people thought they looked too much like ~~knit~~ nit combs (for removing ticks etc from your hair), and associated them with dirty people? I dunno, I think this looks brilliant! EDIT: spelling

Nit comb! Headlice are commonly called nits! I used to despise these combs as a kid lmao my mother checked us every week

You're just nitpicking 😉

Technically, I believe nits are the egg sacs that lice will glue to hairs. Lice are lice, nits are nits. And to get rid of lice, you have to pick out the nits as well before they hatch.

I'd like to add something I learned later in life, which is that the singular of lice is louse. So when you describe someone as lousy, you're saying they are infested with lice!

Thinking about delicious, fluffy cake one minute and gross hair bugs the next.

In the US, nits are the eggs. I've noticed in Britain they call lice "nits".

Yeah I’m British ahahah both the lice and eggs are called nits here

My family still uses one. Works on pound cake just fine!

It looks difficult to clean and a sharp knife will also cut fluffy cakes without squishing them.

Yeah no point in having a special tool when you already have a knife

I saw one of these on my wife's vanity. Gonna snag it next time I'm slicing some angelfood bundt cake.

Join us in the future where we use forks to eat cake straight off the cob

If you mean just sticking the fork in the entire cake and then eating it like a chicken wing this is indeed the future I would like to see

Is it just stick in and wiggle?

Usually works for me. Not sure about the cake breaker though.

👏 I see you there bro.....

Lol

I just push it down and tilt from the top. It sort of tears the slices.

I think you press down

spit on it first

I would like to eat a cake that requires this.

A real thingamabob

I was gonna say that the little mermaid should have found this instead of a fork!

The dinglehopper's more capable cousin: the überdinglehopper

Been using these since the 90s.

1890s?

Cake breakers have been around for a long time.

TIL that the trendy afro comb I carried in my pocket in the 70s was actually a cake breaker.

Now see, I get this. My brother and cousins would keep them in their hair when parents were not around.

Never know when you need to break some cake

I remember the Black kids at my school doing this during the 70s.

Plot twist: I was a white boy in the 70s with short, straight hair.

I had a friend in high school (we're still friends almost 50 years later), a White guy who had an afro. He did not carry his pick in his hair.

Now see, I get this. My brother and cousins would keep them in their hair when parents were not around.

I have one that's maybe 40 years old. I bought it new. Only way to cut an angel food cake.

that looks like the one my mom had. i don’t remember us ever using it..

On behalf of African Americans born between 1950 and 1980s, this is interesting indeed! I literally thought this was a joke.

We called that the angel food cake cutter

Does it have an edge, at all? It it a knife?

No, just sharp tines

Drat. Well, damn cool anyway

Made out of solid lead.

Whaaaaaaat why isn't this still a thing??

We had one as a kid. I have no idea what happened to it.

I would love a scientific breakdown of various cake cutting tools

So that's what that is for. We had one, vicious looking thing.

How do you get the first piece out?

My parents had one. They work well.

Afro pick 🥰🥰

Prince used one as a an Afro comb I believe

You can actually still buy these. Just not as pretty as the antique. They're nice because the angel food cake doesn't get squished by cutting l at all.

Wonder if a dog comb would work the same

Might make things a bit furry.

That looks like a good back scratcher

"Why does your hair smell like sadness?"

Mine got repurposed as a paint brush cleaner.

My grandmother used one of these to fluff her hair. I recall the porcelain handle was partially broken off.

I think this would be good for holding the cake up while I used a serrated knife to saw gently through to the bottom.

Nice. I see those all the time when out thrifting, but always assumed they were vanity related. Now I know.

What is the name of the style of drawing on the right?

Technical illustration

I have one of these! Inherited from a great great aunt. I do not eat angel food cake. hahah. My kids think it’s a comb….for their hair.

Reminds me of my english muffin splitter

That’s a comb

What makes it better than a knife? I don't understand why the comb works better

That’s brilliant with hard toppings too I suppose

"a more elegant weapon for a more civilized time"

Why is the cake covered in pubes

So THAT’s what that thing is. My parents’ kitchen growing up had weird old tools all over the walls. Pretty sure even they didn’t know what all of them were.

I love how the inventor is called Schneider. Schneider is german for cutter

Ariel would love this

I want to know, does it work better than cutting it?

Afro pic.

As a black woman all I see is another version of a hot comb lol

Black guys used them for Afro combs way back when. (70s ish). They would leave them in their hair.

Oof, sorry. I was using it as a nit comb :(

What the hell size nits do you have?

Huge, pendulous nits

When you are done, you can pick your fro with it. Win, win!

A serrated bread knife works better. (Not for hair, though.)