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It could mean the end of hours in the kitchen — a 3D-printed cheesecake that takes just 30 minutes to make.
Columbia University engineers unveiled the world’s first Tuesday, made by the technology that meticulously layered seven edible inks to form a triangular shape.
The base ingredient is graham crackers and the layers consist of peanut butter, Nutella, cherry drizzle, banana puree, strawberry jelly and whipped cream.
The team didn’t share what the cheesecake tastes like, only that it’s vegan, but notes that the experiment aims to show how 3D printing will revolutionize the food assembly industry.
The authors note that accurate printing of multi-layered foods could produce more customizable foods, improve food safety, and allow users to more easily monitor the nutritional content of meals — and in less time.
Engineers have cut the time to make a cheesecake by hours. The team 3D printed a vegan version of the popular dessert in just 30 minutes
Lead author Jonathan Blutinger said in a rack: ‘Because 3D food printing is still a technology in the making, it needs an ecosystem of supporting industries such as food manufacturers, downloadable recipe files and an environment to create and share these recipes.
“Its adaptability makes it particularly practical for the plant-based meat market, where texture and flavor must be carefully formulated to mimic real meat.”
The team afterwards installed a ready-made 3D printer that used the ingredients as ink and laser roasted the graham cracker paste for a more crusty texture.
The head of the printer has a small syringe tip that grabs the specific ingredients depending on what is programmed into the software.
Engineers designed the dessert on a computer, pressed a button, and the machine got to work building the seven-layer cake.
The cheesecake was “a record number of ingredients, to our knowledge, in a single printed food product,” the researchers wrote in the study published in Nature.
“The design of our print became similar to building a house where floors, walls and ceilings are the foundation (graham cracker) and inner basins (nutella and peanut butter) with softer ingredients inside (banana and jelly).”
It took the team seven tries before the system made the final cheesecake.
The base ingredient is graham crackers and the layers consist of peanut butter, Nutella, cherry drizzle, banana puree, strawberry jelly and whipped cream
Engineers designed the dessert on a computer, pressed a button, and the machine began work to build the seven-layer cake
Christen Cooper, from Pace University Nutrition and Dietetics, said: ‘We have a huge problem with the low nutritional value of processed foods.
“3D food printing will still deliver processed foods, but perhaps the silver lining for some people is better control and fine-tuning of nutrition — personalized nutrition.”
“It may also be helpful to make food more appealing to people with swallowing difficulties by mimicking the shape of real food with the pureed food these patients – millions in the US alone – need.”
The team believes the method will help chefs pinpoint flavors and textures on a millimeter scale to create new food experiences.
“People with dietary restrictions, parents of young children, dieticians in nursing homes and athletes could find these personalized techniques very helpful and useful in meal planning,” the engineers shared.
The head of the printer has a small syringe tip that grabs the specific ingredients depending on what is programmed into the software
And because the system uses high-energy focused light for high-resolution, tailored heating, cooking can become more cost-effective and sustainable.
Hod Lipson, who has worked on the technology at Creative Machine Labs since 2005, said: ‘The study also highlights that printed food dishes are likely to require new ingredient compositions and structures, due to the different way the food is ‘assembled’.
“A lot of work is still needed to collect, model and optimize these processes.”