This Year's 5 Most Outrageous Culinary Inventions So Far

Every year, dozens of new inventions emerge that aim to make our lives a little easier in the kitchen or at a restaurant. Here are some that we've noticed so far this year, from the potentially revolutionary to the completely absurd.

Cake in a Jar: A blogger discovered that at a patisserie named Country of Origin just outside of Mumbai, India, they're selling layer cakes in a jar. The flavors include "haute" chocolate and hazelnut, cookie dough, caramel and cream, cookie dough and hazelnut crème, red velvet, and Black Forest cake. You bring it home, microwave the whole jar for 30 seconds, and enjoy.

Pluck Yolk Extractor: Removing the yolk from the white can be a real chore for those who haven't mastered the in-shell approach (crack the egg in half and capture the yolk in one of the halves), but this new invention makes it a piece of cake (not in a jar). Just crack your egg into a bowl, place the contraption over the yolk, give it a squeeze, and it gets sucked right up. $12.99.

The HAPIfork: This off little device premiered at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas and created quite a buzz, literally: it vibrates if you take bites more frequently than every 10 seconds, and tracks via an online dashboard or app how many bites you take, and how long it takes for you to finish your meal, with the goal of slowing down eating. Sandwiches apparently need not apply. Launching soon. 

Fat Magnet: Straight from the "As Seen on TV" department, the Fat Magnet advertises itself as a miracle device that "removes fat, calories, and cholesterol instantly!" Well, sort of. In order to use the Fat Magnet, you first need to freeze whatever food you're trying to remove the fat from, which lets the fat move to the top. From there, you can just slide the contraption over the top of the food, and it'll scrape the fat right off it. The facts that this only works with foods with fat that rises to the top when frozen — like soups — and that a spoon works just as well aren't really relevant because it's called THE FAT MAGNET. $9.95.

Cronuts: Even though it most likely was invented some number of years ago, the Cronut — the combination of a croissant and a donut — really took off this year thanks to a high-profile release at New York's high-end Dominique Ansel Bakery. Folks wait in line for hours in order to snag one, and they certainly sound delicious. They're not just tasty, though: they're the most popular food item in New York (and most of the country) right now, and are certainly cutting edge. $5.00