A rice cake that is served hot or cold, mochi is delightfully chewy and often filled with nuts, seeds or sweet bean mixtures. is filled with double the nutty-roasted peanuts and crunchy peanut butter hit the right notes.
Source: China Squirrel
Imagawayaki
It all begins on a cast-iron griddle. With crisp batter on the outside, sweet red bean paste on the inside, think of this popular Japanese street food snack as a stuffed pancake, perfect for when you're on the go.
Cherry blossom pancakes (sakura mochi)
Cherry blossom season in Japan is one of the most spectacular and beautiful times of the year. for a traditional sweet made around the Tokyo area uses new-season cherry leaves. The balance of the salty pickled leaves and the sweet bean paste with the chewiness of the pancake are the secrets to this sweet dish.
Taiyaki
The only thing fishy about this cake is the shape. Once again, red bean paste pops in this pocket, but you can also find this puffed wafer harbour a filling of chocolate, custard, cheesy or even potato.
Dorayaki
makes a tasty teatime cake rather than an after-dinner dessert. However, simply adding matcha to the cake batter – and serving it with cream – gives you a smarter-looking dessert course bordering on a dessert sandwich.
Source: Cook Japan / Bloomsbury
This slightly sweet Japanese fruit sandwich is a perfect middle-ground between healthy and indulgent. For best results use bread that has been slightly sweetened and fruit at its peak ripeness.
Japanese fruit sando Source: Jessica Thompson
Quite possibly the 'sundae' of your dreams. Shaved ice, coconut jelly, ice cream and fruit all stack up into one impressive looking dessert. Phi Nguyen adds a splash of plum wine, making it an adults-only treat. Ready to go digging and scooping for more? Challenge accepted!
Dig around for the hidden umeshu-soaked ice crystals. Source: The Sweet Life with Elise Strachan
There is an enormous variety of (traditional Japanese confectionery) in the world. Many wonderful shapes, flavours and textures are created from a base of a simple white bean paste known as shiro-an. It’s not quite as easy as it looks, but don't let a little extra attention deter you from mastering the art of wagashi.
Crepes
Light, fluffy and bursting at the seams, there's something so satisfying about wrapping your lips around these matcha green tea crepes filled with red bean cream.
And while you'll find plastic copies dotted in dessert windows across Japan, we can reassure you these crepes are very much alive and ready for the licking.
Plus we just couldn't go past e. Filled with whipped cream, we're green with dessert envy over here because we don't have a slice of the action... yet.
Most French people simply see the holiday as an occasion to eat crêpes with family and friends. Source: Justine's Flavours of Fuji
These dense, cake-y Japanese fried doughnuts are a great way to showcase the molasses flavours of Okinawa’s famed black sugar. They are great with a morning cup of coffee and while they aren't stuffed with another flavour combo, they're the dainty, cake-y doughnut holes that dreams are made of.
Okinawan black sugar doughnuts
Shu cream
With a thin and crisp exterior, this cream puff is baked to light and airy perfection. The centre, a sweet and creamy custard, is finished off with a dusting of icing sugar. While vanilla custard is traditional, you can also find dark chocolate, matcha, coffee and fruity flavours as well.
Daifuku
While sweet red or adzuki beans tend to take charge of this sweet pocket stuffer, fruits such as strawberries or bananas can also be coated in a chocolate sauce before being wrapped in a rice flour shell.
You may be more familiar with the hugely popular and ultra-smooth - well, this version takes on a more chilled approach. calls for a vanilla cream cheese filling before being coated in a matcha green tea glaze. This is one dinner party favourite set to impress.
Green tea glazed cheesecakes
Manju
With a sticky texture, these Chinese-style steamed buns are made of flour or rice powders and filled with a chunky adzuki bean paste that has been sweetened with sugar or honey.
Karukan
A steamed sweet bun that is filled with grated purple yam. This southern Japanese speciality sits somewhere between a mochi rice cake and a spongy steamed bun.
Mochi ice-cream
Small balls of ice cream are covered in a sticky rice cake sheet of mochi. Ice-cream flavours vary between the usual suspects of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla and the mochi coating can be flavoured to complement the filling - bonus, they're bite-size beauties.
Feel like dessert? We've got you covered with a dessert collection that will keep your sweet spot satisfied - .
Turning Japanese
These Japanese lollipops blow Chupa Chups out of the water
