A printing unit for printing a food includes a printing head, which has a printing-head body and a cartridge carrier and which can be positioned over a printing surface. The cartridge carrier holds at least one removable cartridge for edible printing mass. The cartridge has a plunger, a cartridge body, and a cartridge bottom with a cartridge nozzle. The printing-head body has a cartridge motor for pressing the plunger of a cartridge that is inserted in the cartridge carrier toward the cartridge bottom of the inserted cartridge from above in order to press printing mass onto the printing surface via the cartridge nozzle. The printing unit has a positioning device for moving the printing head to different positions. A control unit controls the positioning device and the cartridge motor in order to print a food with the printing mass from the cartridge.
