A viral video on social media has created a debate over the best cake-cutting technique, with experts – including a mathematician – weighing in.

While most people would cut a round cake like a pizza, often resulting in unequal (or worse, not enough) wedges, US TikTok user @foodies uploaded a video showing another way of doing it which came as a revelation to many cake connoisseurs.

“I hate to break it to you but you’ve been cutting cake wrong your entire life,” she says.

“Instead of slicing at an angle like you would do a pie, cut the cake in half first, then divide the halves in four equal sections.”

This method allows the cake to be cut into eight equal portions from each side.

“This trick has been used by wedding planners to get the most out of wedding cakes and has been proved by mathematicians as the right way to do it,” she says.

However, a commenter claiming to be a mathematician vetoed this claim on behalf of their profession.

““Hate to break it to you. I’m a mathematician and there’s no equal parts there. I can cut it another way and maximise the amount of pieces,” they wrote.

Other TikTok users were thrilled with the video, going so far as to describe it as “life changing”, while some has other very legitimate concerns about icing rationing.

“The real problem is the icing on that cake,” one wrote

“You are not getting the right distribution of icing that way.”