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The Scientific Way to Cut a Cake.

CinemaGoddessCinemaGoddess member
in Parenting
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/20/scientific-way-cut-cake-numberphile-video_n_5509124.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

You've had your share of birthdays so you know perfectly well how to cut a cake, right?

Don't count on it.

As British mathematician Alex Bellos explains in a fun new video from his Numberphile series, the traditional approach to divvying up a cake -- cutting a series of wedges -- just doesn't cut it from a scientific standpoint. Or from the standpoint of flavor.

"You're not maximizing the amount of gastronomic pleasure that you can make from this cake," he says in the video, adding that once you cut out a wedge, you expose the inside of the cake to the air -- and it dries out.

A better way, Bellos says, has existed for more than a century. In 1906 the journal Nature ran a letter from Francis Galton in which the celebrated British polymath offered -- "for his own amusement and satisfaction" -- what he considered a superior method of cutting a cake. The goal, he wrote, was to cut it "so as to leave a minimum surface to become dry."

Scroll down for photos showing the technique -- and never eat dry cake again.


*****

1. Who the shit has leftover cake for long enough that it gets dried out?


2.  See question 1.  


3.  This is one of the few instances where science is WRONG.  

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Unable to even.  

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You don't understand the appeal of Benedict Cumberbatch / think he's fug / don't know who he is? WATCH SHERLOCK.  Until you do, your negative opinion of him will not be taken seriously.



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Re: The Scientific Way to Cut a Cake.

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  • WeljadraakWeljadraak member
    edited June 2014
    LOL cake cutting: you're doing it wrong.


    I thought it was going to be about this nifty invention:

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    There is a square one, too.
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  • KTdiditKTdidit member
    Yeah its good in theory but I don't see that working IRL. 1. No one should have that much cake left over. 2. It would NOT work with anything other than fondant, and who really makes cakes other than wedding cakes with fondant?! and 3. I'll just save you the hassle and just take the leftovers with me, I'll save someone from the horrid dry cake issue!
    BabyFetus Ticker


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  • WeljadraakWeljadraak member
    I will eat all the cake. Also I'm a frosting fiend so any of you weirdos who don't like frosting...I love you and put that ish on my plate!
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  • MrsT0514MrsT0514 member
    Yeah...umm...all I got from this was a craving for cake. So thanks, mr. Scientist, you're a real jerk.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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  • KTdiditKTdidit member
    Funfetti cake - send it my way!!! and I agree @theempireneedsyou rainbow chip frosting was fantastic. I totally forgot about it
    BabyFetus Ticker


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  • CryssteenCryssteen member
    The rubber band grosses me out.
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  • jenn330jenn330 member
    They did a "demonstration" of this on the today show the other morning. It was not a fondant frosted cake and it just made a huge mess and ruined the cake with the rubber band. It separated the two layers.
    I'll just keep putting leftover cake into a Tupperware. Never lasts long enough from there to dry out anyways!
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  • jesuisfatigueejesuisfatiguee member
    @lrtrauth - We're talking about cakes in here. 



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