EP4186396A1

EP4186396A1 - Cake shield

Info

Publication number: EP4186396A1
Application number: EP21210573.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Flemming Madsen
Original assignee: I7 Works Aps
Current assignee: I7 Works Aps
Priority date: 2021-11-25
Filing date: 2021-11-25
Publication date: 2023-05-31

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a cake shield comprising: a cover for covering a cake, wherein the cover comprises a top surface; a silicone plate comprising a plurality of openings for receiving decorative elements, like cake candles, said plate configured to be placed on the top surface. The present disclosure further relates to a plate, such as a silicon plate, comprising a plurality of openings for receiving decorative elements, like cake candles, said plate configured to be placed on the top surface of a cover. The present disclosure further relates to a food shield comprising a cover for covering food and a perimeter rim with a first groove for receiving a lower perimeter edge of the cover.

Description

Background

Cakes play an important social role, as they are often used to celebrate particular relevant events in life of people and children. In case of birthdays it is very widely used to arrange candles on the cake and the person that celebrates his/her birthday traditionally turns off the candles by blowing from his/her mouth. This practice seems to date from the ancient Greeks, even if there is not general consensus on the actual origin. The practice of blowing candles placed on the surface of a cake, often by means of holders penetrating the surface layers of the cake, is very widely spread and is often considered very important for celebrating birthdays of children, and in some countries for adults and elderly, or other special occasions.
However, blowing the candles off by use of the mouth generates hygienic issues, which have become even more apparent under the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020. Blowing the candles off from a person's mouth has the clear disadvantage of virus and bacterial transmission from the air and saliva samples coming from mouth of the person that blows the candles to the surface of the cake. Because the cake is typically served to a number of people, the people who eat the cake are exposed to virus and bacteria from the person who has blown the candles or the fountains. In addition wax from the candles or powder or residues from the firework fountains or other decorations may be left on the surface of the cake. Moreover, decorations placed in the cake often ruin the cake partially because they have to penetrate the top layers of the cake to be held.
Within the context of the present invention, a decoration, a decorative element, or a decorative object can mean a decorative element.
The present invention addresses the problems described above. In addition, the present invention will also solve other issues and bring different kind of features for the user.

Summary

The present disclosure relates to a cake shield comprising:

a. a cover for covering a cake, wherein the cover comprises a top surface;
b. a silicone plate comprising a plurality of openings for receiving decorative elements, like cake candles, said plate configured to be placed on the top surface.

The present inventors have realized that it is advantageous, especially in case of birthdays and especially in case of birthdays for children, to use a cake shield to protect a cake from saliva and/or candle wax coming from the act of blowing off candles and/or powder residuals coming from the act of burning fireworks fountains on the top of the cake. In order to guarantee full enjoyment of the shape and the colour of the cake. In one embodiment the cake shield comprises a cover that may be substantially transparent or at least partially transparent. Said cover may be in plastic, glass or other transparent material. A transparent cover enables visibility of the cake and full enjoyment of the cakes shape and colours.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure the cover may have a substantially flat top surface or that at least a portion of the cover may be flat. A silicone plate may be comfortably arranged on top of and in contact with the top surface of the cover. The inventors have further realized that a silicone plate may have openings that may be used to retain and hold decorations such as candles. The silicone plate may have a thickness sufficient to the purpose of holding, in the openings formed within, decorative elements. The openings may be going through the plate or the openings may be only through part of the plate so that any decorative element cannot scratch the cover, on which the plate is resting. Typically decorative elements such as candles have an elongated bottom part that may be comfortably accommodated in the openings of the silicone plate. The silicone plate and the decorations therewith are external to the cover with respect to the cake. Thus blowing off the candles may be done safely as any elements of air or saliva coming out of the mouth of a person as a consequence of blowing off the candles may rest safely on the surface of the cover or of the plate without contaminating the cake. This way there may not be any contamination of the cake and therefore no virus or bacteria which may be present in the air or the saliva of the person who blows the candles may reach the cake, thus ensuring a safe enjoyment of the cake by all the people who will have a piece of cake. At the same time, full enjoyment is assured by the transparency of the cover, or at least part of the cover, which may guarantee visual contact with the cake itself. The presently disclosed shield also avoids that the cake is contaminated with wax from candles or residual material from decorative fountains. In addition the presently disclosed shield prevents decorative objects to be penetrated in the top layers of the cake and therefore preserve the cake integrity. Furthermore the decorative effect and the aesthetical value of the candles and the fountains and other decorative elements is preserved by the presently disclosed shield, which has the same decorative value as traditional methods based on penetrating the top layers of the cake with decorations, candles and fountains. With the presently disclosed shield, the user of the cake can still blow the candles and enjoy the effect of the fountains and other decorative elements.
The presently disclosed shield may in a further embodiment even be used without candles or other decorative elements, for example for storing purposes.
The plate may be square, rectangular, circular, polygonal, or oval, or a combination thereof. The lower edge of the cover may be square, rectangular, circular, polygonal, or oval, or a combination thereof. The edge of the cover may have circular or square or rectangular, or other or polygonal shape or other shape.
A further insight of the inventors is that the cover may be rigid enough to keep the shape of the cover even when the plate with the cake decorations are placed on top of the cover.
The inventors have additionally realized that the specific shapes of the openings in the plate are particularly advantageous. In one embodiment of the present invention the shape of some of the openings may be conical, with a bottom diameter smaller than a top diameter. This way decorative objects with substantially elongate bottom portions of different sizes may be arranged in said openings: thicker elongate bottom portions of decorative objects may be retained, such as received and held by, in the upper parts of said conical opening while thinner objects may be retained, such as received and held by, in the lower parts of said conical openings.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, some of the openings may have a plurality of flanges covering partially the opening upper open surface. Said flanges may be in silicone and flexible, in such a way to flex and bend when an elongated bottom portion of a decorative objects is thereby received, holding therewith the decorative object.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, some of the openings may have four flexible flanges, such as substantially triangular flexible flanges, defining an open cross shape on the surface of the opening. This configuration of the flanges is particularly effective when an elongated bottom portion of a decorative element, which is to be received by the opening, is formed as a straight sword or spade shape, or cross swords, and extends in one of the directions perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. In such cases, a straight-sword or spade elongated bottom portion of the decorative element is comfortably adjusted along one of the directions of a cross-shaped open portion of a said opening.
Instead of silicone the plate may be made of plastic, rubber, slime, foam such as oasis, or other material, giving the same kind of flexibility.
The plate may have cavities filled with sand, configured to receive decorative objects.
The cover may be rigid enough to keep the shape of the cover even when the plate with the cake decorations is placed on top of the cover.
In one embodiment, the cake shield may comprises a plurality of small plates. In this embodiment, the small plates have a small length, comprised between 10 mm and 90 mm. The small plates, or small elements, are placed on the top of the cover and are comprising openings for receiving candles or other decorative objects. In this embodiment, the small plates or elements may be square, rectangular, circular, polygonal, or oval, or a combination thereof. The small plates may be connected together with a clip mechanism, to for a larger plate.
The cake shield may have a transparent cover, or a non-transparent cover and the cover may be made of one-use plastic, or reusable plastic, or glass, or non-transparent plastic, or non-transparent steel or one-use cardboard/paper.
The present disclosure further relates to a plate, such as a silicon plate, comprising a plurality of openings for receiving decorative elements, like cake candles, said plate configured to be placed on the top surface. The plate may be a single piece or may comprise a plurality of small plates or small elements.
The present disclosure further relates to a food shield comprising a cover for covering food and a perimeter rim with a first groove for receiving a lower perimeter edge of the cover. The food shield may be a shield for a cake, or cheese, or fruit or any other food. The food shield may have a transparent cover, or a non-transparent cover and the cover may be made of one-use plastic, or reusable plastic, or glass, or non-transparent plastic, or non-transparent steel. The first groove may have an outside edge on the outside of the cover, when the first groove has received the lower perimeter edge of the cover, wherein the outside edge is rounded for easily receiving decorative elements like flags or name plates.
The perimeter rim may further comprise a second groove and/or at least one conical opening for receiving and holding a decoration article, such as a flag, or a banner or a name sign or a plate ornament. The second groove and/or conical openings can stretch along the whole rim or only along one or more parts of the rim. The second groove may be a single groove that is between 10 mm to 70 mm long or the second groove may be a two, three, four or more grooves that are between 10 mm to 70 mm long each. Instead of conical, the openings may be cylindrical, and/or oval and/or with flanges.
In one embodiment of this disclosure, the openings of the plate may comprise fully through-going openings and/or partially through-going openings. In this embodiment at least one of the openings may be fully through-going, that is going through the full thickness of the plate, extending from a top surface of the plate to a bottom surface of the plate. In this embodiment at least one of the openings may be partially through-going, that is extending only through a portion of the thickness of the plate, from a top surface of the plate to a point internal to the plate.
The present disclosure further relates to a second cover for covering food, wherein the second cover comprises an integrated neck on top of a top surface of the second cover, wherein the neck comprises a thread for receiving a handle. In one embodiment, the presently disclosed second cover may be such that the neck is positioned at the centre of the top surface.
The present inventors have realized that to have a neck with a thread to receive a handle is very advantageous, because the thread makes it easy to secure the handle to the neck and, by using the handle, lifting the cover. The handle, the neck and the thread may be of different materials, or all three made of plastic. The handle may be, in another embodiment, made of steel.
The inventors have further realized that using a thread for securing the handle directly to the neck, and wherein the handle has means for being secured to the neck via the thread, is advantageous because the thread avoids use of external screws or other external means for fastening. In one embodiment of the present disclosure a user may fasten and release the handle directly from and to the neck of the cover without using other external fastening means such as screws. This provides the advantage that the handle is easily removable and the cover is easily washable and the cover may be stored conveniently in a fridge or in a compartment shelf with a height only slightly greater than the height of the cover without the handle but smaller that the total height of the cover including the handle. In addition, production of the handle may be cheaper as compared to a handle that requires external screws or external fastening means, as similar moulding process may be used for both cover and handle.
This disclosure further relates to a food shield comprising:

a third cover comprising a handle on top of a top surface of the third cover, wherein the handle is hollow;
a plate as presented above and/or below.,

The inventor has realized that, in order to practically integrate a cover with a handle and a plate it is beneficial that the handle is hollow, or has a central opening, and that the plate has a recess to receive the handle, wherein the recess of the plate has the same shape and size as the handle. If the handle has a circular shape, then the recess has an annular shape. If the handle has a polygonal shape, then the recess has a polygonal groovelike shape, etc. This way, the plate may comfortably be placed on top of the cover with the handle and the plate will still lay flat. The plate will have a core inside the recess that can have openings for receiving candles or other decorative elements.

Description of the drawings

The invention will in the following be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 a schematic top view of one embodiment of the presently disclosed cake shield with silicon plate.
Fig. 2 a schematic view of one embodiment of the presently disclosed cake shield
Fig. 3 an image of an example of a decoration sustained by two elongated portions at a distance of 115 mm, or other relevant distance, from each other (107).
Fig. 4 an image of an example of a decoration with a sword-formed or spade-formed shape.
Fig. 5 an image of one embodiment of the presently disclosed cake shield (100), wherein the shield comprises a rim (109) comprising two grooves, wherein a first groove accommodates a bottom edge of the cover and a second groove (or conical openings) accommodates a decorative element (110).
Fig. 6 is a schematic representation of different shapes of the plate, or of the small plates.
Fig. 7 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a second cover with a handle configured to be screwed directly on a neck of a second cover or dome.
Fig. 8 is a schematic representation of a further embodiment of a second cover with a handle configured to be screwed directly on a neck of a second cover or dome.
Fig. 9 is a representation of an embodiment of the presently disclosed shield with a rim under a cover and a plate on top of the cover. The handle (700) and the plate (102) may be formed in such a way that the plate may be placed on top of the handle, by means of a circular recess in the bottom of the plate, and the handle being substantially circular, and in such a way that the plate is still flat. The shape of the handle and the recess in the plate may be circular, square, rectangular, or polygonal, or ondulating.
Fig. 10 shows a section of an embodiment of the presently disclosed shield, with a rim (109) with a first groove receiving a cover (101) and a finger grip (201), wherein said finger grip is used to lift the rim and the cover and the silicon plate at the same time.
Fig. 11 shows two non parallel trenches (200) on a plate. Because the trenches are not parallel, decorative elements sustained by a pair of sticks or pins at a variable distance may be received and held in said trenches, wherein said variable distance may be comprised, for example, between 4 and 14 cm.
Fig. 12 shows an embodiment of the presently disclosed rim, wherein the rim comprises a first groove and said groove is oblique and may receive and hold a lower edge of a cover and a decorative element, such as a flag of a banner.
Fig. 13 shows an embodiment of a food shield with a cover with an handle, where the handle has a hollow shape and can be received in a recess (800) of a plate (102). This way the plate may be secured to the cover and may not glide.
Fig 14 shows different shapes for a plate.
Fig 15 shows different shapes for small plates, which may be combined together in a puzzle structure, by means of a male-female click structure.
Fig. 16 shows an embodiment of a cake shield that may be used as a food shield.
Fig 17 shows a disassembled view of one embodiment of the present invention, with a plate (101), a handle (700), a cover (101) and a rim (1000).
Fig 18 and 19 show examples of decorative elements.

Detailed description

Fig. 1 shows a schematic top view of one embodiment of the presently disclosed cake shield (100). The presently disclosed cake shield may comprise a cover, such as a transparent cover (101) with a substantially flat portion or a substantially flat top part. The cover may be formed of a transparent or non-transparent rigid material, such as plastic, reusable or one-time usable plastic, steel, glass or the similar. The presently disclosed cake shield may comprise a silicone plate (102), preferably placed on top of the cover, on the substantially flat top or substantially flat portion of the cover. The silicone plate may comprise a plurality of openings for receiving and holding decorations, such as candles or other decorative elements. Some openings (103, 105) may be conical, with a bottom diameter smaller than a top diameter. Other openings (104) may have flexible flanges on the top part. In one embodiment, the openings with flexible flanges (104) may have four triangular flexible flanges, forming a cross-shaped hole on the top part of the opening, as shown in (104). Openings may have different sizes, for example openings shown in (105) may be larger than openings shown in (103), and larger openings shown in (105) may accommodate preferably candles, while openings with smaller size (103) may accommodate preferably decoration with an elongated stick-formed bottom portion, such as a thin candle or a candle holder or a flag.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, at least one of the openings is conical, with a bottom diameter smaller than a top diameter. The conical openings on the silicone plate may have different sizes and may accommodate decorative elements of different sizes. Decorative elements may be provided with pins or sticks, that are traditionally used to penetrate the top layers of a cake and be held therewith. Sizes and/or shapes of the section of these pins or sticks, and sizes and/or shapes of the section of birthday candles may differ. The inventors have therefore realized that it is advantageous to have openings of different sizes and to use conical openings, with a bottom diameter smaller than a top diameter.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of openings are configured to receive and to hold an elongated bottom portion of a decorative element, such as a candle. Openings may be of different sizes, in order to accommodate decorative elements of different sizes. For examples birthday candles may be accommodated in the openings directly or may be accommodated with use of a candle holder. Candle holders for birthday parties typically comprise an elongated pin or stick, which is typically used to penetrate a soft layer of a cake. Candle holders of that type may be received in openings in the silicone plate of the present inventions. Candles, with or without holder and with different sizes, may be also received within the openings directly.
The plate may have elongated openings, such as trenches. Said trenches may have in-built conical openings wherein the bottom size of said openings may be smaller than their top size. Because the plate is made of silicon, the properties of the material make the trenches suitable for receiving and holding straight decorative elements, such as candles with or without candle holder and firework fountains with or without holder or other decorative articles. The inventors have realized that the material of silicone has advantages with respect to trenches made of plastic. Using silicone the candles may be held straight. In addition the use of a plate for the trenches make it advantageous to use the cover stand alone without making the cover ugly and full of, for example, wax. In addition the silicone is reusable for many years. The trenches have a short section of 1 to 4 mm and a length of 20 to 150 mm. Trenches can be line-shaped, S-shaped, convex shape, T-shape, L-shape or similar shapes.
Trenches may be connecting conical openings. That way trenches can receive and hold pins, swords, sticks, spade-forms, and candles with a candle holder, and the conical openings that are connected by the trenches can receive and hold candles.
Openings with flanges may also have a bottom diameter smaller than a top diameter.
Birthday candles or candle holders may have different sizes, in particular different diameters of their section. Birthday candles or candle holders with different section size may be successfully accommodated in conical openings on the silicone plate of the present invention. In particular, candles with larger section size may be retained in the upper part of said conical openings, while candles with smaller section size may be retained in the bottom part of the openings.
Some cake decorations, such as flags, may be sustained by a thin pin, such as a stick. Smaller conical openings on the silicone plate of the present invention may be used for accommodating these types of sticks, or elongated thin objects, while larger conical openings may be used for receiving and holding candles directly or via a candle holder. Smaller conical openings may be successfully be used for receiving and holding candle holders comprising a thinner bottom stick or pin. Also trenches, with conical openings in them, may be used for the same purpose.
In a further embodiment of the present disclosure, at least one of the openings comprises a plurality of flexible silicone flanges that are configured to flex when an elongated bottom portion of a decorative element, such as a candle, is inserted into said opening, and are configured to secure and hold the decorative element. In one embodiment these opening comprises at least four flexible silicone flanges, such as substantially triangular flanges, that form two opposite cavities
Openings with flanges on the silicone plate of the present invention may be successfully used to receive and hold candles of different sizes or decorations sustained by a spade-shape or a sword-shape, as shown in Fig. 4. Particularly, openings with four triangular flanges, forming a cross hole, may successfully be used to retain elements with a spade-shape or a sword-shape or cross-sword, as shown in Fig. 4 as the sword or spade-shape may be successfully be received and accommodated in one of the top-to-bottom or left-to-right arms of the cross opening. A retain element that is sword-shaped means that the cross-section of the retain element has one axis longer than the other axis. A retain element that is spade-shaped corresponds to a retain element that is sword-shaped, where the two axis, and especially or only the long axis decrease(s) towards the point of the retain element. In this configuration the flanges mechanically sustain and hold the received spade or sword shape element. In particular the flexible flanges bend and at the same mechanically sustain the word or shape element by pressure. Openings with flange, in particular with four flanges, may also comfortably be use to receive and hold candles with a candle holder.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, openings may be oblique. Oblique openings may receive decorations, such as fountains or other decorative elements, and hold them with an angle with respect to a vertical direction. Oblique openings may be advantageously placed at the periphery of the plate, close to an external edge of the plate, to generate a configuration of ornaments obliquely standing. This way a larger number of ornaments can be placed on the surface of the plate. This is shown, for example, in Fig. 2, where the fountains (106) are standing obliquely with respect to the vertical plane. When a central area of the plate is full with ornaments, additional ornaments may be successfully placed obliquely at the periphery of the plate.
Some of the openings may have an oval shape, thereby receiving comfortably ornaments with a spade or sword shaped bottom part. Oval openings may have flanges or may not have flanges and/or may have a larger maximum section than a lower maximum section.
One embodiment of the presently disclosed shield, may comprise a plate with openings with different sizes. In particular a length of the openings may be comprised between 1 mm and 15 mm. For example the top diameter of a conical opening may be comprised between 1 and 15 mm, or the long diameter of an oval opening may be comprised between 2 and 15 mm. Openings may also be cylindrical with a diameter of 1 to 15 mm.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, at least two of the openings are 115 mm away from each other, that is at a distance of 115 mm from each other. Some decorations, such as happy birthday banners, are sustained by a pair, or several sticks or pins, as shown in Fig. 3, where two sticks (107) are used to sustain the happy-birthday banner. Quite often, pairs of sticks or pins are used to sustain banners, wherein the distance between the two sticks or pins is conventionally 115 mm. In order to accommodate these banners with sticks or pins at a distance of 115 mm, the inventors have realized that it is advantageous to have, on the silicon plates, pairs of openings at substantially a distance of 115 mm. Thanks to non-parallel trenches and triplets of openings, also decorative elements with distances comprised between 40 and 150 mm may be received and held.
For the silicone plate to be able to receive and hold, in its openings, decorative objects such as candles or birthday banners, the silicone plate has to have an optimum thickness, sufficient for holding the decorations and not too thick, in such a way that the silicone plate is sufficiently flexible to be easily accommodated on the flat top part of the cover. The inventors have therefore realized that an optimum thickness of the silicone plate is between 2 and 20 mm, more preferably between 5 and 15 mm. The silicone plate may be thicker in some areas and thinner in other areas.
In order to increase flexibility of the cake shield and make it capable to accommodate decorative elements of different sizes, the inventors have realized that it is beneficial to have different openings with different sizes and/or shapes. For this reason, the plurality of openings may comprise at least three different kinds, wherein each of the three different kinds has a unique diameter and/or size and/or cross-section. For example, a first kind of conical openings may have a bottom diameter of 1 mm and a top diameter of 2 mm. A second type of conical openings may have a bottom diameter of 2 mm and a top diameter of 3 mm. A third type of conical openings may have a bottom diameter of 3 mm and a top diameter of 4 mm. An opening with flanges may be conical or cylindrical ant it may have a bottom diameter of 3 mm and a top diameter of 5 mm of equally sized bottom and top diameter. The skilled person will realize that the examples above, related to the size of the openings diameters and lengths, are not limiting and that different sizes may be used for different target decorative element, depending on the configuration of the decorative element. For example a decorative element may be a straight candle, or a candle with a candle holder provided with a pin or stick, or a small flag provided with a pin or stick, or a larger decoration provided with a spade or sword-shaped bottom portion, or a cross-sword decorative element. The inventors have further realized that the size of the openings in combination with the material of the plate, such as silicone, is of that kind that enables reception and sustain of cake-decorative objects with elongate bottom parts of different and usual sizes.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the cake shield comprises a circumferential rim, or a rim of other perimeter shapes such as rectangular, or squared, or polygonal with a first groove and the cover comprises a lower circumferential edge, or an edge of other perimeter shape, wherein the first groove is configured to receive the lower circumferential edge, or the edge of other perimeter shape, wherein the rim has a second groove and/or conical opening for holding a plate ornament or flag or other decorative element. In this embodiment, the lower edge of the cover and the rim have matching shape and size, such that the rim can receive and hold the cover. As shown in Fig. 5 one embodiment of the presently disclosed cake shield (100), comprises a rim (109) comprising one or two grooves, wherein a first groove accommodates a bottom edge of the cover and a second groove accommodates a decorative element, such as a plate ornament (110) or flag or other decorative element. The rim may be circular or elliptical or may be at the perimeter of a polygon, such as a square, or rectangle, and the shape of the rim may match the shape of a lower edge of the cover. The shape of the perimeter rim shall therefore be construed broadly and should match the shape of the lower edge of the cover. The cover of the cake shield has a bottom or lower edge, which may be circumferential or may have other shapes, for example elliptical, or square or rectangular, or polygonal. The inventors have realized that the lower edge of the cover may be advantageously inserted in one of the at least one grooves, such as a first grove, of a rim (109). The rim may be made of plastic or rubber or silicone and gives the advantage to confer stability to the cake shield, by holding the cover of the cake shield and preventing the cover from sliding with respect to an horizontal plane over which the shield is placed. Said silicone rim may be air-tight. In addition, a second groove of the rim, and/or conical openings of the rim, wherein the second groove is external with respect to the first groove, may be advantageously used to receive and hold lateral decorative elements, such as plate ornament (110), like as birthday banners with an elongate and thin bottom portion to be secured in the second groove of the rim. The rim may be made of silicone or other material such as plastic or rubber.
The second groove may be along the whole perimeter or the second groove may partially cover the perimeter of the rim.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure the top surface of the cover may be substantially flat, or at least a portion of the cover may be substantially flat. The flat portion of the top of the cover has the advantage to be configured for receiving, in contact therewith, the silicone plate. It also has the advantage to generate better functionality of the openings, when used for holding decorative devices received therewith.
The cover may be at least partly transparent. A transparent cover, or at least partially transparent cover has the advantage of letting the covered cake being visible through the cover. In case of birthdays, for example, especially on birthdays for children, the children and all the guests of a birthday party can enjoying being able to see the cake through the transparent cover, while candles and other decorations are placed externally to the cover, secured in the openings of the silicone plate. As the candles are external to the cover, the children or the relevant people to the party can safely blow the candles without contaminating the cake with their air or saliva samples, or contaminating the cake with dripping candle wax or powder residual from fireworks fountains and at the same time a full visual experience of the cake is secured by the transparency of the cover.
The cover of the shield may comprise a handle, for lifting the cover up or placing it down. In this embodiment the shape of the plate may comprise a central larger opening matching in size, or larger, than the handle cross-section. This way the plate may be comfortably placed on the top surface of the cover, the handle passing through the central larger opening of the plate. In another embodiment the plate may comprise a central opening which may have a length larger than a maximum length of the plate. In this embodiment the central opening may have a length of at least 20% of the total length of the plate, preferably at least 50%, more preferably at least 70%, even more preferably at least 80%, or most preferably at least 90%. When the central opening has a length larger than 50% of the total length of the plate, the plate may be advantageously used to have ornaments and candles on a periphery of the cover. This is particularly advantageous when the cover is transparent and an user wants to maximize the transparent area in such a way that the cake is almost fully visible.
In one embodiment of the presently disclosed cake shield, the handle may be circular and may be formed in such a way that the silicone plate may be placed on top of the cake shield. That is shown in Fig. 9.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the handle may be used to lift the cover. In a further embodiment the handle may be used to lift only the cover. In a further embodiment the handle may be used to lift the cover when fully or at least partially decorated on the silicone plate.
The plate may have different shapes, that the skilled person may appreciate, and which are represented in Fig. 6. For example the plate may have a ring-shape, a ring-shape with dentals, a full round shape, a full rectangular shape, or a triangular shape, or polygonal shape, or cross shape, and may have different values of thickness.
In one embodiment the shield may comprise a plurality of small elements or small plates with different shapes, as shown also in Fig. 6, but with a smaller size, that is with a length larger than 10 mm. In this embodiment a "puzzle" of smaller elements or small plates, preferably with male and female attachments fitting each-other with a click function, or as a set of smaller elements and small plates, is placed on a top surface of the cover. In this embodiment, the small plates may have round or circular shape, oval shape, polygonal shape or cross-shape, or other shape. The inventors realized that use of several or many small plates, with openings for candles or other ornaments, may have a decorative purpose and may facilitate the dislocation of various decorative elements on the parts of the cover where decorations are needed or wanted, and at the same time guarantee a sufficient portion of transparent cover to be free to the sight, generating a good visual contact with the cake.
Fig. 7 shows a second cover 301 for covering food, wherein the second cover comprises an integrated neck 302 on top of a top surface 303 of the second cover, wherein the neck comprises a thread for receiving a handle (not shown). The thread of the neck is preferably a male thread, however a female thread can also be contemplated according to the invention. That the neck is integrated means that the neck is moulded or made together with the rest of the second cover in one piece. No screws or no glues is necessary. A handle (not shown) with the corresponding thread can easily be screwed onto the neck. The handle can be made by another material or with another finish, e.g. by metal or with a metal finish, or in wood, silicone, plastic, porcelain or rubber.. Such a second cover with a handle is very easy and cost-effective to produce and put together. There are no small metal screws necessary for connecting the cover and the handle and there is no need for glue that may be a health hazard and not suitable for an item for food. In addition, the handle and the cover may go separately into the dishwasher or closet.
A handle with a good grip having a larger perimeter further away from the second cover than closer to the second cover is difficult and more expensive to mould by e.g. plastic or glass because of the shape if such a handle and the second cover are moulded in one piece. This problem is avoided by the second cover shown in Fig. 7.
In addition, the second cover shown in Fig. 7 also allows for different types of handles depending on the situation or use.
Fig. 8 shows a variety of the second cover 401, where the neck 402 with the thread is positioned in an indentation 403, so that the top of the neck more or less flushes, or aligns, with the top of the second cover 401 outside the indentation.
In one embodiment of the presently disclosed shield, the plate is washable in a dishwasher and the cover may be easily washable in a dishwasher or by hand. The cover and the plate may be easily washable as they are separate from each other. The silicon rim may also be washed by hand or in the dishwasher separately.
The presently disclosed shield may receive and hold stably any type of candle, candle holder, spade or sword formed decorative object, pin or stick, or double pin, cross-sword or double sword.
The presently disclosed shield has a natural decorative value.
The presently disclosed shield may be used in combination with an under-plate. In this embodiment, the cake stands on an undercover and the cover is placed on top of the under-plate, covering the cake. The under-plate may be of any material, because stability of the cover may be obtained using the rim with at least one groove.
As the under-plate is not part of the shield, the shield may be compatible with any under-plate. The material of the rim create the compatibleness to all kind of underplates in steel, glass, porcelain, plastic, melamine and wood.
The presently disclosed shield may be reused.
The presently disclosed shield may receive and hold stably all type of candles with or without candle holder, fountains with or without fountain holders, spade formed decoration, cross swords, pins and double pins and double sword and double cross sword.
In the presently disclosed shield, decorative elements may be placed on top, in the openings of the plate, or on the side, in one of the grooves of the rim.
All components of the presently disclosed shield, handle, plate, cover, rim, handle, may be easily mountable and dismountable, without residual of glue.
In the presently disclosed plate all decorative objects may be easily placed in precise structures and patterns according to the wishes of the user.
In the presently disclosed shield the plate alone contains functionality for holding and receiving a plurality of decorations.
In the presently disclosed shield, the plate and the cover and the rim and the handle contribute together to the final decorative result.
The plate of the present disclosure may have trenches, such as elongated openings for receiving and holding candles or other decorative elements. At least two of said trenches may be not parallel, as shown in Fig. 11 (200). Non parallel trenches may be used to receive decorative banners or other decorative elements with two sticks or two pins or two elongate bottom extensions, at a variable distance within each other, for example at a distance comprised between 4 and 14 cm.
In a further embodiment of the disclosed plate, a set of four conical openings, comprising a first, second and third conical opening, may be used to receive and hold a decorative element with two pins or two sticks at distances which may be at the distance of any combination of the distance between the first and second, first and third and first and fourth opening.
The cover of the presently disclosed shield may, in one embodiment, not be transparent and may be bearing the shapes and the color of a painted or printed decoration.
In one embodiment, the presently disclosed plate comprises a plurality of smaller plates. In this configurations the plates are as small as possible as to guarantee to expose as much area as possible of the cover, to allow the user to see as much as possible of the decorated cover, in case of non-transparent cover, or of the cake, in case of transparent cover.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the rim may comprise an external finger grip (201) as shown in Fig. 10. Said finger grip allows the user to lift the rim and the cover and the plate on the top of the cover without using a handle, if no handle is provided on the cover or if the handle is hidden by the cover.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the rim (109), a first groove in the rim may be configured to receive a lower edge of the cover (101) and also to receive a decorative element (202) in the same oblique groove, as illustrated in Fig. 12.
The silicone plate is horizontal plain and in anti-slide material, such that the decoration figures without stick (plat bottom) may be placed on the silicone plate without sliding.
The cake shield with the plate enables the user to make exactly and precisely structures and/or patterns in the placement of the decoration articles.
In one embodiment the rim may be permanently mounted to the edges of the cover.
In another embodiment the rim may be removable from the edges of the cover depending for use or when going into the dishwasher.

Further items

1. A cake shield comprising:
1. a. a cover for covering a cake, wherein the cover comprises a top surface;
2. b. a silicone plate comprising a plurality of openings for receiving decorative elements, like cake candles, said plate configured to be placed on the top surface.
2. The cake shield according to item 1, wherein the plurality of openings are configured to receive and to hold an elongated bottom portion of a decorative element, such as a candle.
3. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein at least one of the openings comprises a plurality of flexible silicone flanges that are configured to flex when an elongated bottom portion of a decorative element, such as a candle, is inserted into said opening, and are configured to secure and hold the decorative element.
4. The cake shield according to item 3, wherein the at least one of the plurality of opening comprises at least four flexible silicone flanges that form two opposite cavities.
5. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein at least one of the plurality of openings is oblique in relation to at least another one of the plurality of openings.
6. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein at least one of the plurality of openings is conical, with a bottom diameter smaller than a top diameter.
7. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein at least one of the plurality of openings has an oval shape and is configured to receive and hold a decorative element with a spade or sword shaped bottom portion.
8. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein one side, two sides, a long axis, a short axis or a diameter of a cross-section of at least one of the plurality of openings is comprised between 1 mm and 15 mm.
9. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein at least one of the openings in the silicone plate is an elongated opening in the form of an elongated trench for receiving decoration, preferably wherein the at least one trench is connecting at least some of the plurality of openings, and/or preferably wherein at least two of the openings in the silicone plate are elongated openings in the form of two elongated non-parallel trenches.
10. The cake shield according to item 9, wherein the trenches are connecting at least some of the plurality of openings.
11. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein at least two of the plurality of openings are 115 mm away from each other.
12. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the silicone plate has a thickness of between 2 and 20 mm, more preferably between 5 and 15 mm.
13. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the plurality of openings comprise at least three different kinds, wherein each of the three different kinds has a unique diameter and/or size and/or cross-section.
14. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, further comprising a perimeter rim with a first groove for receiving a lower perimeter edge of the cover.
15. The cake shield according to item 14 wherein the rim has a second groove, and/or conical openings, for holding a plate ornament, and/or pins and/or sticks and/or double pins.
16. The cake shield according to item 14 or 15, wherein the rim is made of silicone, or rubber or plastic.
17. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the top surface of the cover is substantially flat.
18. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the cover is at least partly transparent.
19. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the cover comprises a handle on the top surface.
20. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the plate comprises a central opening stretching through the plate.
21. The cake shield according to item 20, wherein the central opening has a length of at least 20% of the total length of the plate, preferably at least 50%, more preferably at least 70%, even more preferably at least 80%, or most preferably at least 90%.
22. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the plate is a small plate of less than 90 mm, preferably less than 40 mm, and most preferably less than 30 mm.
23. The cake shield according to item 22, wherein the cake shield comprises a plurality of small plates.
24. The cake shield according to item 22 or 23, wherein the small plate is square, rectangular, circular, polygonal, or oval.
25. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the cover is made of one time use plastic, or rigid plastic, or other plastic, or melamine, or steel, or porcelain, or glass, or wood.
26. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the cover has a bottom opening for receiving the cake, wherein the bottom opening is between 10 and 60 cm, preferably between 15 and 50 cm, and most preferably between 20 and 40 cm.
27. The cake shield according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the cover has a height of between 5 and 30 cm, preferably between 7 and 25 cm, and most preferably between 9 and 20 cm
28. A plate according to any one of the preceding items.
29. The plate according to item 28, modified in that the plate is made of plastic, or slime, or rubber, or steel, or wood or foam such as oasis, or cardboard paper.
30. A food shield comprising:
- the cover for covering food as defined in the preceding items 1-27;
- the perimeter rim as defined in any of the item 14-16.
31. A second cover for covering food, wherein the second cover comprises an integrated neck on top of a top surface of the second cover, wherein the neck comprises a thread for receiving a handle.
32. The second cover according to item 31, wherein the neck is positioned at the centre of the top surface.
33. The second cover according to item 31 or 32, wherein the second cover has any of the features of the cover as defined in any of the preceding items 1-27.
34. A food shield comprising:
- a third cover comprising a handle on top of a top surface of the third cover, wherein the handle is hollow;
- a plate according to any of the items 1-27,
wherein the plate has a recess preferably a groovelike recess like an annular or polygonal recess configured to receive the hollow handle in such a way that, in an assembled position, the plate lays flat on top of the cover.

Claims

A cake shield comprising:
a. a cover for covering a cake, wherein the cover comprises a top surface;

b. a silicone plate comprising a plurality of openings for receiving decorative elements, like cake candles, said plate configured to be placed on the top surface.
The cake shield according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of openings are configured to receive and to hold an elongated bottom portion of a decorative element, such as a candle.
The cake shield according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the openings comprises a plurality of flexible silicone flanges that are configured to flex when an elongated bottom portion of a decorative element, such as a candle, is inserted into said opening, and are configured to secure and hold the decorative element, and/or wherein at least one of the plurality of openings is conical, with a bottom diameter smaller than a top diameter.
The cake shield according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the openings in the silicone plate is an elongated opening in the form of an elongated trench for receiving decoration, preferably wherein the at least one trench is connecting at least some of the plurality of openings, and/or preferably wherein at least two of the openings in the silicone plate are elongated openings in the form of two elongated non-parallel trenches.
The cake shield according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least two of the plurality of openings are 115 mm away from each other, and/or wherein the plurality of openings comprise at least three different kinds, wherein each of the three different kinds has a unique diameter and/or size and/or cross-section.
The cake shield according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a perimeter rim, made of silicone, or rubber or plastic, with a first groove for receiving a lower perimeter edge of the cover.
The cake shield according to claim 6 wherein the rim has a second groove, and/or conical openings, for holding a plate ornament, and/or pins and/or sticks and/or double pins.
The cake shield according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the cover is at least partly transparent.
The cake shield according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the cover comprises a handle on the top surface and/or wherein the plate comprises a central opening stretching through the plate.
The cake shield according to claim to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the cake shield comprises a plurality of small plates of less than 90 mm, preferably less than 40 mm, and most preferably less than 30 mm.
A plate according to any one of the preceding claims.
The plate according to claim 11, modified in that the plate is made of plastic, or slime, or rubber, or steel, or wood, or foam such as oasis, or cardboard paper.
A food shield comprising:
- the cover as defined in the preceding claims 1-10 for covering food;

- the perimeter rim as defined in any of the claim 6-7.
A second cover for covering food, wherein the second cover comprises an integrated neck on top of a top surface of the second cover, wherein the neck comprises a thread for receiving a handle.
A food shield comprising:
- a third cover comprising a handle on top of a top surface of the third cover, wherein the handle is hollow;

- a plate according to any of the claims 1-10,
wherein the plate has a recess, preferably a groovelike recess like an annular or polygonal recess, configured to receive the hollow handle in such a way that, in an assembled position, the plate lays flat on top of the cover.