You’ve been doing cupcakes completely wrong
There’s a trick to finding that perfect frosting to cake ratio
Unless you’re eating Baked By Melissa, you probably face the classic frosting-cake-bite ratio dilemma when eating a cupcake.
At risk of looking like Bruce Bogtrotter, maybe you try to get a full bite of frosting and cake in one. Maybe you’re a sugar fiend who just goes for the frosting, or maybe, you, mistaking your cupcake for a muffin, just eat the cake part.
No matter your method, there is clear confusion on how to best enjoy your cup-sized cake. Well, we managed to score an exclusive interview with sophomore, Nina Solá, a Cordon Bleu alumna, who could impart wisdom on the perfect way to eat a cupcake.
We sat down at House of Cupcakes, where I got a first hand lesson from this culinary wizard.
Nina’s first tip was to choose a cupcake without a filling – this method can still be done with a stuffed cupcake, but may get a bit messy.
Nina picked a timeless carrot cake cupcake: classically elegant, yet deliciously edgy, with a cream cheese frosting.
When I asked Nina about her discovery of the golden ratio, she said: “We go together like white on rice, like apples and oranges. We’ve always had a special relationship. One might call me an addict.”
“Once, after my fifth cupcake – maybe it was the sugar, maybe the euphoria – I was hit by a stroke of brilliance and discovered one could more easily distribute the icing and create a more stable platform for cupcake ingestion.
“All I can say is that it’s been truly life changing and I’m honored to share this knowledge with my cupcake eating friends.”
Nina studied at Le Cordon Bleu during her gap year, where she polished her approach to cooking, serving, and eating food.
“My greatest achievement wasn’t my ability to whip live crabs into a bisque or truss a chicken into a football shape, but I got to take some time to work on my sweets eating skills. Studying food from a professional outlook emphasized the importance of presentation. As the chef says, you eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth.”
Next Nina walked me through the steps of deconstructing and reconstructing the cupcake to make each bite perfect:
Step one: unwrap
With acute precision and attention to detail, Nina delicately removed the cupcake wrapper.
Step two: disembody
Pinching from just below the top of the cake, Nina severs the body of the cupcake in half, leaving the frosting pristinely untouched.
Step three: preparing the sandwich
Nina hovers the bottom half of the cake over the center of the frosting, preparing to place the cake bottom directly over the frosted top.
Step four: the light smush
Nina presses the new top gently onto the frosting, making a sandwich, careful not to crumble the cupcake entirely.
Step five: the perfect bite
As Nina bites into the cupcake, notice how the bite is not too large, since the frosting is now more compact. Yet each bite still contains the right frosting-cupcake ratio, while also leaving her face frosting free.
Thank you Nina, for imparting your wisdom.