Printed as a pancake: PancakeBot can make breakfast dreams come true

There are few things more enjoyable than pancakes shaped like your favorite Disney characters, rocket ships or your own face. Now there’s an actual pancake printing machine that can make your wildest breakfast dreams come true.

Remember the selfie toaster? This may be even better.

The Pancakebot, thanks to a successful crowdfunded campaign on Kickstater, is actually happening. It’s a hot griddle with a suspended squeeze bottle for batter and special software that allows users to print pancakes in any shape.

Here’s how it works. The included software lets you design a pancake by tracing any image on your computer. You first trace the outline of the object, creating darker lines on the pancake, then fill in the rest of the shape to creating shading, etc.

Say you created an especially compelling pancake of your dog’s face: You can store the image on an SD card to re-create it, eliminating the need to retrace anything.

“The PancakeBot uses a patent-pending batter dispensing system to print the batter onto the included griddle,” reads the product’s Kickstarter page. “By using a combination of compressed air and a vacuum, the PancakeBot controls where the batter is dispensed. Onboard controls let you fine tune the dispensing of the batter as it glides over the griddle.

The machine was created by Miguel Valenzuela, a civil engineer living in Norway. He built the first PancakeBot for his young daughters using Lego pieces. After tweaking his designs, and ditching the Lego pieces, he partnered with StoreBound, a product innovation company, to make the PancakeBot consumer-ready.

His Kickstarter campaign, which had a $50,000 goal, has raised more than $139,000. Depending on how much you contributed, you could receive your face on a pancake, your own PancakeBot or pancake-lover’s apron.

The PancakeBots will retail for about $299; the Kickstarter page lists July 2015 as the expected ship date.

I dip my bacon in maple syrup. Follow me on Twitter @Jenn_Harris_