Sounds like something fun for The HIVE to get involved in.
Also, I’d recommend other HIVErs to subscribe to the Hackerspaces-discuss list. It’s a pretty great community.
Best,
yes, it does look like fun. i'm definitely on board.
the ATX hackerspace in austin is 1,126 miles away, we could send one there.
we could also make cupcakes from some essential hackerspace
ingredient, like beer or clubmate. (i think guinness can be used in
chocolate cake)
so i see two separate and possible parallel tasks:
1) research and develop an awesome cupcake
2) design and build a shipping method for the awesome cupcake
other optional items include:
awesome cupcake tracking
- I have made these before and they are brilliant http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/car-bomb-cupcakes/
The fact that the icing doesn’t cover the entire top would be easier to pack too. But we would have to make plenty for the hive because they look awesome!
I’ve also made a cake version that would be easy to share with the whole group…
I’m envisioning a gimbaled nest to cradle the cupcake, keeping it upright at all times. Hmm, actually if weighted so the cupcake is upside down that would be more entertaining.
Then the outer box should be an irregular shape. Or a sphere. Or just this end up stickers at an angle.
I like the tracking idea. Even better if we can get a photo of them opening the box and send that off. Shock / orientation info would be a plus.
Keep in mind that the package will not be upright at all times, or even most of the time, during shipping. It is reasonably likely that the box could end up on it side or upside-down for most of the trip. It is also likely the box will be dropped from about desk height at least once during shipping - and that is probably best case scenario.
2 cents…
Does the cupcake have to be exactly cupcake in shape? Perhaps make it so that it is a triangle shape, then we could make a holder that keeps the cupcake held down more easily.
Well, not triangle, but more pyramidal.
What fun!
Reminds me of an egg-drop contest I had in high school. Our team suspended the egg inside the box with pantyhose like a bungee (which I think would have worked well had we constructed it better). One idea I always wanted to try was to fill the entire box with jello, with the egg inside it. If you could keep the jello from oozing out, seemed like it would have worked well. And the jello doesn't stick to the payload (much).
Back to lurking,
G
On 1/4/2011 10:43 AM TraylerPhi claimed:
Maybe we should make it the same size as the packaged box and put the icing in the inside of the cupcake 
i hope it goes without saying that we need to ship it in a rendezvous box.
the larger box would give us room for an elaborate protective structure.
the rules say that the cupcake has to ship intact, but it doesn't
specify the cupcake's default state. what about a cupcake flavored
viscous compound:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/1/3/
we could makerbot a cupcake shaped container for the goo for
appearance points 
i have heard that gorilla glue and water makes a foamy goo that
hardens. what about plastic wrapping the cupcake and filling the box
with goop?
Maybe we should make it the same size as the packaged box and put the icing in the inside of the cupcake
we could use a large box and call it a bukkit cake.
Could you build the box in such a way that the frosting and topper are only applied at the moment of the box opening? That the actual opening of the box will extrude frosting onto the cupcake and place the topper?
Yes use a spray bottle of water on gorilla glue and it foams up like you wouldn’t believe, almost like those cans of expanding polyurethane insulation. Not very much cushion though.
We could always take the opposite tack, go for lowest points - you open the box only to watch the mechanism squash the cupcake like a bug. The messier the better.
