Now Printing in 3D: Easter Chocolates. Yes, Really!

Just in time for Easter, Gaetan Richard, the founder of a start-up Miami factory, has been hard at work making new chocolate creations a reality through the technology of 3D printing. Richard has been preparing beer bottle-shaped dark chocolate for near-by brewery Bertinchamps, to be the prizes at its Easter egg hunt on Sunday, Easter Day. The idea for a design is conceived between a client — a business or an individual — and Richard, prepared on computer software, a prototype is made, altered if necessary, and the design is ready to be printed and eaten. Dark chocolate is the most sought after, Richard says, though milk and white chocolate are also able to be printed. Depending on the complexity of the designs, printing can take from ten minutes to three hours.