Love it so far. For your style, we're thinking that the plunger isn't actually needed. Also, the explosion can be muted a bit with a bit more emphasis on the muffin chunks.
- More energy: rotate the fragmented bits slightly clockwise - Balance the rotation by moving the blast to the left and emphasize the direction of the blast on the left side to show it moving that direction. - Declutter: take out the smoke - Something overlooked was most of these designs look like cupcakes instead of muffins. Try a light pink background with a brown muffin. - Experiment with a couple different typefaces. Like the Deco font, but maybe try something more like the classic Chevrolet - something evocative of the era these come from: http://www.danchuk.com/images/Medium/1055_m.jpg and http://www.ascenderfonts.com/font/harlow.aspx
Sorry for the delay - I haven't forgotten you. #50 - #45 with the typefaces from #34. I'm still thinking about your other suggestion regarding 1950s etc.
Alrighty, I've updated the ranking. We like #49, but want it to have the same font treatment as #38. If you could do that one last change, we'll rank it first and select it as the winner!