It sounds like you’ve only tried the baked goods from the konbini. Yeah, Famima baumkuchen is gonna require a beverage to help it go down.
But go to an actual bake shop in Japan, and they take as much pride in their craft as anyone else in Japan. There’s a reason the Japanese have earned a reputation for excellence.
Also, while you’re correct about Japanese desserts being less sweet, that’s part of the reason I like it. It isn’t as nauseatingly sweet as the stuff in the US, which loads everything with sugar. Japanese cuisine in general is about subtle, delicate, balanced flavors, not overpowering your taste buds.
Even in Europe, desserts are more balanced. In America, it’s like you’d think the sugar lobby was entrenched in politics or something, with how ubiquitously everything is over-sugared.
Japanese confectionary has two distinct lineages, wagashi which are the traditional Japanese sweets produced without sugar or chocolate, and modern confectionary which is western-influenced.
Personally I dislike wagashi (mostly) but love modern Japanese sweets, because it feels like they’ve taken famous desserts from around the world and made them just that little bit lighter and airier, which is very much to my taste.
It is. I never though a cake could be this dense and yet light and it actually wobble on your plate. The flavor is very reminiscent of another cheesecake with a twist on the texture.
The Japanese one looks amazing
In my experience, Japanese baking tends to look perfect but fall very short on flavor and texture.
They also generally like things less sweet and less rich (i.e. butter, cream) than westerners and cheese is not even worth the calories.
It sounds like you’ve only tried the baked goods from the konbini. Yeah, Famima baumkuchen is gonna require a beverage to help it go down.
But go to an actual bake shop in Japan, and they take as much pride in their craft as anyone else in Japan. There’s a reason the Japanese have earned a reputation for excellence.
Also, while you’re correct about Japanese desserts being less sweet, that’s part of the reason I like it. It isn’t as nauseatingly sweet as the stuff in the US, which loads everything with sugar. Japanese cuisine in general is about subtle, delicate, balanced flavors, not overpowering your taste buds.
Even in Europe, desserts are more balanced. In America, it’s like you’d think the sugar lobby was entrenched in politics or something, with how ubiquitously everything is over-sugared.
Japanese confectionary has two distinct lineages, wagashi which are the traditional Japanese sweets produced without sugar or chocolate, and modern confectionary which is western-influenced.
Personally I dislike wagashi (mostly) but love modern Japanese sweets, because it feels like they’ve taken famous desserts from around the world and made them just that little bit lighter and airier, which is very much to my taste.
It is. I never though a cake could be this dense and yet light and it actually wobble on your plate. The flavor is very reminiscent of another cheesecake with a twist on the texture.
I do love a proper Käsekuchen but dislike the crust, so seeing one that’s all cake and no crust intrigues me.
It doesn’t taste like much. Fluffy sugary bread.