Los Angeles-based The Sugar Lab is hitting headlines worldwide with a new innovation: printable sugar sculptures.

Husband and wife Kyle and Liz von Hasseln, who are trained architects, launched The Sugar Lab two years ago, after working out how to design, digitally model and print sugar sculptures.

The technology can be used to print out anything from cupcake and large cake toppers to cake supports and pie-crust lattice, with the design perhaps based on samples such as a piece of lace from a bridal gown.

3D printing transforms sugar into a structural, sculptural element that can interact with food on different terms, said Liz von Hasseln. “It can be used to sweeten or to ornament, or even to support it structurally. We’ve been getting excited reactions from all over the world.”

The couple hit on the business as graduate students, when they wanted to make a friend a birthday cake but did not have an oven.

They are currently collaborating with a Hollywood bakery on a four-layer cake with a 3D-printed cake stand and sugar columns.

Liz von Hasseln, added: “We can definitely visualise a time when there will be a sugar 3D printer in every custom bakery. Brides will choose chocolate or vanilla, buttercream or fondant, and 3D-printed sugar topper.”