My Day At Candy Mechanics!

02/17

This week, I was invited to Candy Mechanics HQ. Found deep in the heart of Somerset House in the ‘Makerversity’ workspace, filled with exciting and creative start up businesses, was a modern day chocolate factory!

Candy Mechanics have introduced the world’s first 3D consumable product created from a smartphone – and it’s your own head made in chocolate!! When I got the invitation a few weeks ago, the idea of making my own head on a chocolate lollipop (or lolpop as they are called) both fascinated and excited me.

Founded by Sam Part and Ben Redford back in 2015, the food tech startup collaborated with confectionery developer William Leigh, former chief taster at Green & Blacks, to produce their range of chocolate products. Developing the technology with engineer Chris Tait, the team have created a completely unique process to create incredible customised candy products.

It’s worth noting that this is not 3D printing. Candy Mechanics use 3D scanning and then carve the heads using a customised CNC mill. So I went along and was very excited to check it out!

Even though it’s in Somerset House, this part of the building felt akin to a secret underground laboratory from Despicable Me! I was fascinated. The machine set up was the Candy Carve – that bit of kit under the plastic box, a laptop and a 3D scanner. By having all of this in one easy to transport area, Candy Mechanics are able to take this technology out and about so anyone can have their head made from Belgian white, milk or dark chocolate. If you’re not in front of the machine itself, you can upload a 30 second video of your head, or anyone’s head for that matter, and send it in via their website to get your mini chocolate sculptures sent by post.

I sat still for 30 seconds, which was actually really tricky for me, so the scanner could build up an accurate image of my head. It then loaded it to the laptop so I could get a peek at me in blue 3D! Then it was cropped to fit the lollipop shape and we were good to go. They popped in a milk chocolate pop into the machine and away it went! Check out the video below to see how it carved me out of chocolate! I’ve sped up the process but in real time it only took about 5 minutes.

There I am! I’m so impressed!! I thought there would be a vague resemblance but I can 100% see it’s me! I look good dusted gold. Haha! I think it’s an awesome idea, perfect for a unique present!

Priced at £20, the Lolpops come in a box of 3 with one to eat, one to keep and one to share. These currently come in a selection of white, dark or milk chocolate and are dusted with edible gold lustre.

To find out more about Candy Mechanics, their Lolpos and the other products they offer, check out their website here.

Massive thank you to everyone at Candy Mechanics for a fantastic day. I don’t want to eat chocolate me! I think I’ll keep her forever!

Britt xo

World Nutella Day

02/17

I LOVE Nutella. Give me a jar and a spoon and I’m happy. However, if you would like to do something a little more sophisticated with this marvellous chocolate hazelnut spread, I’ve put all of my Nutella recipes for you below, click on the pictures to get to them!

Give it a try and let me know how you get on either on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram.

If you want to turn your baking hobby into a career, check out my book Cakes, Bakes & Business for everything you need to know about running a successful baking business, including pricing, marketing, insurance and much more!

Happy baking!

Britt xo

Ferrero Rocher Cake

Nutella Filled Pancakes

Peanut Butter & Nutella Cake Nutella Maple Syrup Banan Bread

Cinnamon Nutella Muffins

 

 

 

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