Most of us are familiar with the famous New York chocolate shop, and host of Emmy-nominated Netflix series, Nailed It!, Jacques Torres. However, what you may not know is that he recently entered the innovative world of 3D printing.
3D printing is not widely used in chocolate making, but it does exist today. It is mainly used by people who need customization or who really want to be different in chocolate making. Generally, chocolate 3D printers work similarly to standard 3D printers, that is, using an extruder head to place the molten chocolate layer into any form, and finally cool enough to form the final solid shape.
Created specifically for Halloween, Jacques is using a 3D printer called Prusa i3 MK2 to create specially designed chocolates that not only meet his standards of high quality and rich taste, but also achieve the highest precision he envisioned.
His new Haunted Pumpkin Chocolate Plaque was designed in Blender, an open source 3D computer graphics software. From there, plaque designs were printed with plastic to create molds that could be used to make chocolate plaque. Every step of the chocolate plaque and 3D printing process is completed in the Brooklyn Army Terminal at the Makerspace workshop, which is also the location of Jacques’ factory.
These Halloween chocolate plaques are available in milk and dark chocolate and feature jack-o-lantern pumpkins, bats and weird trees as the background.
We talked to Jacques about his inspiration, why he chose 3D printing and so on. This is what he has to say.
Why did you choose 3D printing for chocolate?
We choose to use software for 3D printing to turn the exact ideas and images into reality because it is more efficient and faster than manual creation. In addition, we can do anything at home.
What was your inspiration for jumping into the world of 3D printing?
I am always seeking innovation and keeping up with technology. Today, our customers want a quick turnaround, and making our own molds can help us achieve this goal.
What makes chocolate lovers particularly surprised by your 3D printed chocolate?
Using 3D software to make our own molds and print them allows us to design faster and more accurately, and the best part is that we pass the money saved to customers.
How do you plan to use this technology?
We plan to learn more about breaking through the limits of the mold manufacturing world through this new technology.