Once this goes regular, we'll all be able to sigh in relief because the cake is not a lie

Aug 25, 2014 13:20 GMT  ·  By

You might or might not like sweets, but you can probably appreciate aesthetics, and deserts are one of the food types that most often get a lot more attention for their looks than for the taste.

Sure, sweetness is great and all, and flavors can help add variety to the experience of eating a slice of cake or a candy. Having prior experience with a type of sweet can help make you buy more too.

However, in the end it's still the label and the shape of a sweet that actually draws attention. Well, that and commercials, but we digress.

Usually, it can take ages for a baker to make an awesome looking cake, but a man by the name of Joshua Lankford has come up with a method for speeding things up and making even more elaborate confectionaries.

Basically, he has created a 3D printer which makes cakes. He aptly named it the 3D Cake Creator and allows owners to create whatever cake they want just by pressing a button.

Sure, you'll have to design the cake in a virtual reality program, and configure the exact extrusion system and ingredients, but you can do it without getting your hands wrist-deep in whipped cream.

The idea bloomed in his head after an ethnographic study with kids aged 9 to 11 years old, which he and some others held last year.

When asked what would make their birthdays special, they gave them cake ideas, both their own and some they found on the Internet.

Most of them, 90% or so, wanted a three-dimensional cake instead of one with a picture on top, or whatever else. One thing led to another and voila, a cake 3D printer.

The 3D Cake Creator uses an X/Y plotter like one in a Cartesian FDM 3D printer that receives instructions from a PC. Instead of filament, it prints using standard cake batter by extruding it and plotting it on the platform.

The platform slowly moves in an out of an open over, being cooked and allowing a new layer to be layered and baked immediately. The cake basically descends from the oven. Once it's out, the oven shuts itself off, along with the rest of the printer.

There are some problems of course. If it's a layered cake you want to make, the layers will end up too crunchy instead of soft and moist. Batter formulation can compensate, but it will drive away people who like low ingredient counts and natural desserts.

Lankford also needs to be careful not to place large items on too thin a base. Also, the open over produces a lot of heat, which isn't great for anyone nearby. Still, the project could change the dessert industry, so we'll keep an eye out for more.

3D Cake Creator
3D Cake Creator

3D Cake Creator (2 Images)

3D Cake Creator
3D Cake Creator
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