Cakes come in various forms and shapes, but have you ever eaten a cake that was entirely designed by you? With a 3D printer, you can.
The problem with ready pastry forms is that they come in a limited number and everybody seems to be using the same ones over and over. With 3D printing technology, you don’t have to be limited to existing solutions. You can create custom shapes yourself.
And if you’re a pastry chef, you don’t even need a 3D printer. You just need to find a designer who owns one.
Where to Start?
Whether you are a designer or a baker (or perhaps both), the idea always comes first. You need to decide what size and shape the cake is going to be. Think of the volume, form and decorative pattern.
You should think about the shape even before you start to design it in software. It will make further steps easier.
The Cake Design
So you know what you want to make. You want to have a cake that nobody has done before, in a shape that nobody has seen before. It’s high time to start your computer and open the software of your choice.
Those of you, who are familiar with CAD probably know the most popular software of choice — Blender, 3ds Max, Rhino.
Now, if you’re creative, you can probably design a lot of different shapes and forms. And that’s great. But bear in mind, that there are certain limits while designing with pastry and there are certain limits. Particularly, we talk about the details, overhangs, and every other thing that you would usually use support for.
After you create the .stl file convert it to a .gcode with Voxelizer 2. Now, the printing part.
Plastic Cake Concept Model
It is vital to 3D print the concept model in the best quality possible. It’s possible that you will need to print more than one — show the first print to the pastry chef, talk about the design, and decide if it needs any improvements.
So now you have it — your cake, but in plastic, 3D printed form. Should you dip it in silicone? Well, not yet. To create a silicone mold your PLA mold negative must be smoothened and well prepared. Make sure there are as little visible layers as possible. That’s why it is important to use a high-quality 3D printer, like ZMorph VX.
Silicone Molds
Only after you ensure that the printed concept model is of the highest possible quality, you can prepare it to make the silicone mold.
Wash the plastic model in water mixed with a little bit of dish soap. This will prevent the silicone from sticking to the plastic. Wait until it dries completely, then pour silicone for food purposes over the model. For our project, we used around 1.5 kg of silicone.
After around 24 hours the wait time is over. Gently remove the plastic model from the silicone to receive a ready mold. Before using, wash it in clean water. Now the silicone form can be used by the pastry chef.
Making the Cake and Final Touches
Here ends the work of the designer and enters the pastry chef. Their job now is to prepare the ingredients for the cake and fill the form with them.
It’s up to you, what flavors you want to use. You can find the list of ingredients used in our project listed at the end of the article.
When you fill the mold with your ingredients it’s time to put your soon-to-be cake in the freezer for around 12 hours. This will turn the pastry into a solid block that will be easy to remove from the silicone form later. After the time has passed, you can take the cake out of the freezer and gently remove it from the silicone form.
When removing the cake from the form, you need to be extremely careful not to damage the food. Otherwise, you will need to perform every step once again. That’s why you should let the cake sit in the freezer for several hours before the final steps.
The cake is almost ready now. All that’s left is to decorate it, maybe spray with some coating, add fresh fruit, or other ornaments. This will make it look even better.
Remember, that after being for several hours in the freezer, the cake is probably as hard as a rock. Therefore you need to wait until it’s ready to eat.
The Yellow Cake:
Arriba Barry Callebaut chocolate mousse, mirabelle plum mousse, salted caramel with pepper and almonds, flourless chocolate sponge cake.
The Green Cake:
Cocoa nibs and white chocolate Velvet Barry Callebaut mousse, apricots, peach, nut crumble, nut Financier.
All cakes presented in the article were made by Aga Półtorak.
