So my grandmother moved into a nursing home. So all her old stuff is up for grabs. So I, as the youngest one in the family and the only one who doesn’t already own everything she needs, get to take what I want and sell the rest in a yard sale. So I find this nifty cake plate (wooden plate; aluminum cover). So the inside is all rusty (if aluminum rusts). So I can’t seem to get it clean enough just from scrubbing with steel wool and such. So I’m thinking maybe I could get some Krylon or Rustoleum or something, a nice spray paint that makes a slick, smooth surface, and paint the interior black to cover up the rustiness and make the cake cover nice again. So I stop to think and realize that maybe I don’t want to have spray paint near my dessert. So I turn to the Teeming Millions. Is the spray paint safe? Is there a better way to get it clean? Is the cake plate a total loss?
use a product called naval jelly, available at all hardware stores, to clean the rust. i would not want to use paint if you are going to use it for food, it will eventually want to flake off.
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Aluminum doesn’t rust. If the cake cover appears rusty (in the traditional sense of the word), it’s not made of aluminum.
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Spray-painting something that will be used for food preparation in any way, shape or form as you describe is inviting disaster, if not possible death, for anyone you consumes food made with said something.
Keep it as a memento. Or sell it as a memento. However, it’s days conjoined with food, are now over.
Is the cake cover already painted?It probably is enamel.
I just ran to the basement to see if I still had the can of paint I used for an old mill I bought. It was very rusty but still had traces of paint on it.Bringing up the question what did the old timers use?
My guess is baked on enamel.
I searched far and wide and even posted here several years ago for a paint that can be used in/ on food preparation surfaces. I don’t remember what the teem said but I kept looking and found one that said it was safe in such conditions. Unfortunately for this discussion it was white paint and has been used up long ago.
Read the label and try a paint store or ask an old hardware man.
Not the kid at wal mart.
PS I used vinegar to take off the rust on my grist mill.
IMO if you are going to sell it don’t paint it.
Have it powder coated! Now THATS paint!
Powder coating will still outgas; your cake might taste like paint. Aluminum is also fairly reactive. Any chemical treatments (i.e., vinegar) might make things worse.
Personally, I’d just polish it smooth with very fine steel wool, oil it and use it. Afterwards you might want to oil it and heat it to drive the oil in, sort of like how you would season an iron pan.
More information: It isn’t currently painted or enameled or anything of the sort; it’s just a wooden plate to set the cake on, and a chrome-colored aluminum (like the old colored aluminum Kool-Aid cups and pitchers) dome to set over the cake to protect it from flies. It also isn’t true rust, it’s just, well, icky. LOOKS like rust, but I don’t think it really is. It’s rust-colored ickiness.
Also, it’s only the lid that I’m worried about; the base is fine. The cover is giving me trouble.
I just spoke with my mom, and she said you can buy spray enamel - would that work as well as baked-on enamel?
- Paint will be poisonous.
- If there’s “ickiness” on the cover, then it’s DIRTY, and paint won’t stick to it anyhow.
- Clean the thing! Use steel wool.
If it’s truly aluminum, I wonder whether it could be anodized. This is just a quick link I found that explains the process; more Googling may turn up more useful links. I don’t know the food-safety implications, but anodized aluminum, niobium, and titanium are widely used in jewelry. Metals can be anodized in several colors.
First, let’s find out what we’re dealing with:
is a magnet attracted to it?
If it looks like rust, it probablu is rust - Al corrodes to white/brown/black state - and food-handleing stuff is usually made from 6061-t6xxx, which doesn’t corrode, unless you REALLY try.
My suspicion is that it is steel with a nickle ofr chrome plating applied to the outside ONLY - some metal wiould end up inside, but that was accidental - the idea was to plate the outside.
the metals used to chrome-plate steel:
el cheapo: Chrome (flakes off in no time)
better: Nickel, then chrome
best: copper, nickel, chrome
the color you see on the inside is possible copper residue from the plating.
get a magnet.
And, unless you are an expert in material coatings, stay away from food equipment 
Well, thanks for your help. I’ll try to bribe my foster sister into scrubbing it some more to see if it helps, and if we STILL can’t get it clean I’ll just toss it and buy myself a new cake plate.
racinchikki,
Not only do I love old stuff, but I treasure any type of old stuff that comes from elderly or deceased relatives. Keep what you have; you’ll think of your grandmother every time you use it.
Anyway, so this is only a device for storing and serving the cake, right? It doesn’t go in the oven?
If I remember correctly from my car-detailing books, a mixture of muriatic acid and water freshens up aluminum very nicely. Or, try a ready-made automotive aluminum wheel cleaner.
I would think that if you only spray-painted the outside of the thing, and you never put it in the oven, and you let the paint cure for a long time (like a week or more) before you use it, you’re probably going to be okay. Old-school lead paint notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure that most of the poisonous stuff in paint evaporates away as it cures.
Or maybe you could do something creative with contact paper, hand-painted drawings, or automotive pinstriping.
3 or 4 folks have suggested using steel wool on aluminum. Don’t do it. Very small pieces of steel can lodge in the porous surface and rust. This will cause and electolytic action and hasten the corrosion of the aluminum. Use scotch brite pads instead. That and a little elbow grease should clean up the cover.
Yeah, it’s only a device for storing and serving a cake - not ovenware; but it’s got nast on the INSIDE, not the outside. I’d really rather not toss it out completely, 'cause it’s so nifty - I love old stuff and vintage chrome kitchenware is very cool (it really has NO sentimental value for me; my relationship with my grandmother is strained, to say the least).
Ok, so no steel wool, scrub it with scotch brite pads, acknowledged; may try the naval jelly suggested earlier if I can find some to look at it and read the packaging; will refrain from spraypaint and probably won’t go near the automotive wheel cleaner either 'cause it’s not meant for food (people USUALLY don’t eat dinner off their hubcaps ;)).
They make a special rust remover for aluminum. Its called aluminum jelly.
For just cleaning I would try silver polish. Its made for silverware so its safe .
Have you looked into that stuff they sell on TV where you just dip the piece and “presto” the oxidation is gone?
Quoth Chris Luongo:
Muriatic is HCl, right? That’ll probably eat through any corrosion, and certainly eat through the aluminum itself. If this is, in fact, aluminum. Try a magnet.
Magnets stick.
Well, what you have is a steel cover then for sure.
You should remove as much rust as you can as well as remove any “ickyness” with scotch brite, and soapy water.
Rinse and dry immediately and quickly, with a towel followed by your hair dryer.
There will probably still be some evidence of rust. I reccomend using " Blue Steel" rust converter that can be applied with a rag over the rust area, and leave in a warm place overnight. This product will convert iron oxide into a more complex oxide that will inhibit further oxidation.
Finally, check with your local paint store for a “food safe” paint. I use a particular acrylic epoxy paint (self priming) for a food processing plant in my area that is government approved. Mind you that requires spray equipment, but I’ll bet there must be a spray bomb paint that is certified. Failing that, There are Co2 cartridge sprayers for small jobs like yours.
Good Luck
I have a everdy chrome cake carrier that is not to bad of shape. I also wonder how to clean it.
Barkeeper’s Friend should work for chrome, but check the label first to make sure. I use it mostly for stainless steel and it’s basically magic.