A Clever Laser-Cut Stencil Puts a Pampered Pooch Front and Center on This Holiday Dessert

Pseudonymous cognitive science student "vfb1" has turned to technology to give a holiday dessert a little flair: using a computer numeric control (CNC) laser cutter to make stencils for turning a pet photograph into a topping on a tiramisu.

"My entire life, our family has always owned Basset Hounds. Our latest and greatest model is none other than Dodger (named after the Dodger stadium — we have a tradition of baseball names)," vfb1 explains. "She is an icon among our family and friends, having much more influence than could ever be reasonably expected from a (not-so-particularly bright) dog. For Thanksgiving dinner, I was tasked with baking the dessert, and I wanted it to be a show-stopper. I chose to honor my muse with a one-of-a-kind tiramisu."

The tiramisu itself is a fairly standard affair, made to a tried-and-tested New York Times recipe — but it's the topping which makes it stand out. Using a photograph of the pet in question, vfb1 used an online Obama 2008 "HOPE" image maker to posterize the image and reduce it to a limited number of shades.

These shaded sections were then turned into outlines in Fusion 360, creating vectors from the original bitmap. "This step was a bit tedious," the maker admits, "but it left me with four distinct outlines, one for each color, that would recreate each layer in the image (excluding the background). After finishing the sketch, I exported it as a DXF which could be interpreted by the CNC laser cutter."

These layers were then sent to the laser cutter and turned into acrylic stencils for cocoa-powder dusting — mixed with confectioner's sugar to create five distinct shades, one for each of the layers. The finished result: a near-photorealistic rendition of Dodger the Basset Hound, in wholly-edible powder.

"While over a dozen dinner guests are not required for this [project], it is highly recommended. The chorus of 'oos' and 'awes' as I brought out the dessert made the over-engineering of this project all worth it," vfb1 writes.

"'Phone eats first,' as they say, but the speed at which guests were grasping for their phones to take pictures of the tiramisu was lightening fast, and frankly, a bit scary. 'It's Dodger, it's actually Dodger' I heard my dad mutter with a mix of awe and what I believed to be fear."

The full guide is available on vfb1's Instructables page.