Is there a wrong way to slice a birthday cake?

Mathematician Alex Bellos thinks so. In his latest YouTube video, Bellos shows us what he calls “the good way to cut a cake,” which allegedly protects the cake’s structural integrity and freshness by slicing thin, loaf cake-shaped slices from the center of round cakes, pushing the remaining slices together and using rubber bands to keep the smaller cake intact.

Eater Azara Golston of Denver strongly objects to this method and emailed us, attempting to debunk Bellos' layers of madness: “One of the best things about cutting a round cake is that the cake-to-frosting ratio will always be consistent,” she writes. “In the case of the proposed method, the ratio would be absolute chaos.”

Golston also opposes rubber-banding cakes together unless the cake is covered in fondant or sugar-paste. “Trying to rubber band a buttercream cake would end in tragedy,” she argues.

Eaters, what do you think? Is there a right and wrong way to cut a cake, and how do you cut yours? Which is the higher priority: cake in the present or cake in the future? Comment below and email us with your thoughts!

Elite Truong is a freelance writer and support manager at Eater. Follow her on Twitter @EliteTruong.