Dan has deeply-held opinions about cupcake theory. So Sporkful was very intrigued when a bold promise landed in the inbox, from David in Arlington, MA:
I'd like to tell you about a new cupcake structure which, I'm proud to say, allows us to achieve previously unheard of frosting-to-cake ratios. I call them "two-bit cupcakes," for reasons which will become clear in a few moments.
The problem with cupcakes is that they're convex, i.e., the top puffs up. But what if the top were actually concave, forming a bowl that could receive two extra dollops of frosting? Such a structure could double the cupcake's frostingy goodness without becoming unbiteably tall.
The concave top can be achieved by placing a silicone mini-muffin cup on top of each unbaked cupcake. Inside each mini-muffin cup, place two quarters (two bits!). The coins weigh down the mini-muffin cup, causing the batter to rise around it, resulting in a concave top cupcake.
Outside of an arcade, I know no nobler calling for a quarter. Check out David's flickr page to see more pictures of his evolving cupcake research. /mark
