The team developed a multiphase transport framework to investigate how the main ingredients of a cupcake — water, sugar and fat — influence performance metrics such as oven rise, moisture content and colour. They modelled the batter as a porous medium subjected to heat transfer, viscoelastic deformation, water evaporation and carbon dioxide generation from the baking powder.

During baking, conduction, convection and evaporative heating cause the temperature to increase from the batter’s outer region to its centre. When the starch gelatinization temperature is reached, the batter transitions from a liquid polymeric emulsion into a solid foam. Then, trapped water vapour and carbon dioxide cause the cupcake to rise. At the final stages of baking, oven rise diminishes, as less water is available for vapour generation.

该团队开发了一个多相传输框架，以研究纸杯蛋糕的主要成分（水、糖和脂肪）如何影响烤箱上升、水分含量和颜色等性能指标。他们将面糊建模为一种多孔介质，会受到传热、粘弹性变形、水分蒸发以及发酵粉产生二氧化碳的影响。

在烘烤过程中，传导、对流和蒸发加热导致温度从面糊的外部区域向其中心升高。当达到淀粉糊化温度时，面糊从液体聚合物乳液转变为固体泡沫。然后，滞留的水蒸气和二氧化碳导致纸杯蛋糕膨胀。在烘烤的最后阶段，由于可用于产生蒸汽的水较少，烤箱的上升会减少。