This New Measuring Cup May Make You a Better Baker

Have you ever wondered why your cookies never come out the same from batch to batch, even though you’re using the same recipe? Chances are, it’s your measuring cup that’s to blame. While, yes, the whole point of a measuring cup is accuracy, it’s extremely easy to measure incorrectly. A little too much on top here, a little under the line there — that can really mess up a recipe.

Good news, bakers! A former Google software engineer is working to fix that problem with a new kind of measuring cup that is scientifically designed to be the most accurate on the market.

The new measuring cup is called the Euclid, after the father of geometry, and it’s shaped more like a Pilsner glass than a conventional measuring cup. The design is intended to correct what inventor Joshua Redstone, who earned his PhD in computer science from the University of Washington before working for Google and Facebook, says is the biggest problem with traditional measuring cups: they are less accurate with smaller measurements than with large ones.

If you’re measuring eight ounces of liquid and go slightly over the line, you might have an error margin of about six percent; if you measure two ounces and go just over the line, you could have over-poured by 20 percent.

That can be a real problem for that cookie recipe — or your salad dressing! If you put in six percent too much oil and six percent too much vinegar, you’ll probably be fine. If you put in six percent too much oil and 20 percent too much vinegar, the recipe probably won’t taste right.

The Euclid’s tapered design, by contrast, is mathematically designed for consistent accuracy across large and small amounts.

“Euclid is the first measuring cup to measure small amounts and large amounts with equal accuracy. Since recipes are all about ratios, that consistent accuracy across different amounts is essential,” the Euclid’s Kickstarter page explains. “Consistency also improves repeatability — key to refining recipes over time.”

These more accurate measuring cups are available on Kickstarter for $24, and it looks like a lot of people really want them: The campaign was originally looking to raise $30,000 to produce, but with 10 days still to go, 1,926 people have already contributed more than $90,000. That means the Euclid is officially happening. Cups are expected to ship in May.