Sweet 3D prints! And they’re edible.

So maybe you don’t think 3D printed doodads and thingamajigs are so great. Perhaps bioprinting isn’t so fascinating to you. Trying to 3D print electronics is a waste of time, you say. Well, I’ll bet you like sweets! You don’t? How unAmerican. Still, this is relevant for the rest of us. Have you ever paid for a poorly decorated cake because the kid’s birthday was in an hour and a half and there was no time to complain that Batman looked like a cat? Sometimes people just can’t draw Batman with a sugary confectionery. You know what can? Robots. And if they mess up it’s legal to kick and/or reprogram them. For now. Anyway, some of this probably went through the minds of Kyle and Liz von Hasseln when they founded The Sugar Lab.

hexagon sugar

Ok, maybe not. It was actually because they wanted to bake their friend a birthday cake but they didn’t have an oven. As architecture students they did have access to a 3D printer, so they decided to create a custom-printed treat for her. There was much experimentation and it wasn’t until after her birthday that they gave her a cupcake topped with her name in 3D printed sugar cursive, but she was so delighted when she saw it that Kyle and Liz decided to make a business of it upon graduating. Obviously it’s totally edible and can be flavored with extracts like vanilla and almond, otherwise the fancy candy just tastes like sugar cubes. And I do mean fancy; these are some pretty intricate sugar sculptures.

sugar sculpt1

sugar sculpt2

There are those that are skeptical about 3D printers entering the home like the computer did, but Liz thinks bakers will find them almost necessary, saying “We can definitely visualize a time – in fact, we daydream about it – when there will be a sugar 3D printer in every custom bakery.” And why not? The technology can do so much: “centerpieces, chandeliers, cupcake toppers, sugar cubes, pie-crust-lattice, and grapefruit sweeteners.” I can see the happy couple now, with all the tables at the reception having sugar cubes that read “May our love be sweet and never dissolve.”

Source: Daily Mail