Amount of Water

This illustrates perfectly that good outward appearance doesn’t always mean the best cake. Using no water produces the best-looking cupcake with the highest volume. But when eaten it will be dry with a metallic baking powder aftertaste. The identical amount of baking powder was undetectable in other cakes with liquid added. In my experiments, I found halving the amount of liquid in a cupcake recipe also looked good, but the full amount created a more moist and delicious cake to eat.

At the other end of the scale, add too much water and your cake will shrivel and turn into a dense, rubbery, egg-flavored mess—hardly a party pleaser!