Use distilled rather than tap water to achieve a perfectly clear cake-I realized this six cloudy cakes in. If you don’t want to buy a mould, a small rice bowl with a round bottom works wonderfully (the raindrop slides right out). Kitchen supply stores will also have silicone moulds to achieve the raindrop shape. Opt for the powdered stuff as it’s easier to measure and dissolve. A very blank canvas,” he says of the original raindrop cake.Īgar can readily be found at Asian grocers (it’s a staple in southeast and east Asian desserts) in the form of dried strips or powder. He also topped a bunch of the cakes with gold leaf, mango puree, mint leaves and dehydrated avocados and raspberries. This summer specialty is perfect for the season, since it looks as refreshing as it tastes. At his home kitchen in Mississauga, Placko made a version that uses 1/8 tsp agar, and added sugar and rosewater for flavour. One Japanese sweet store, Kamakura Goro, has taken this idea and combined it with the traditional dessert, anmitsu, and created Mizu Anmitsu. Too little agar and the drop won’t hold its shape, too much and it becomes cloudy and more silicone than raindrop. “Gelatin gives a more elastic texture whereas agar will provide a more crumbly texture, which I think is the effect it’s going for.” He says the key is getting the right balance of water and agar, a jellylike substance derived from seaweed, to achieve that delicate effect so that when you tap it with a spoon, the cake collapses rather than bounces (much like a raindrop). I asked chef John Placko, a molecular cuisine instructor, for some raindrop cake tips. This month, Australian Japanese restaurant Harajuku Gyoza got into the action by making their own sweetened version.īy now you can find online recipes on how to recreate the raindrop cake at home but I wanted to get some local help. Wong, who works at a digital marketing firm, got the idea to bring it to the States. The cake first went viral in 2014 when Japan’s Kinseiken Seika Company made a clear version of its shingen mochi, a soft mochi rice cake topped with roasted soybean flour and syrup. Since I refuse to spend $8 on flavourless jelly, I sought to make my own.īut first, a backgrounder. The dessert has been making the rounds across international media outlets for the past two months, spurred on by New Yorker Darren Wong, who started selling it for $8 a pop at a Williamsburg (of course) food market called Smorgasburg in April. After 30 minutes or so, the whole thing is supposed to disintegrate. When bitten, the raindrop yields a soft, melty texture that falls apart rather than giving off a chewy, bouncy, Jell-O-like texture. OK, it’s actually called a raindrop cake and it’s essentially a half-sphere of colourless, flavourless jelly that’s supposed to look-and taste-like a large, freshly fallen raindrop. It’s a combination of carefully and gently controlling the heat and time as the cake must be completely clear and have a good wobble to it.This year’s answer to the cronut is an edible breast implant. “To get that clarity is a delicate process. “It is made from carefully sourced spring water and special agar that we import from Japan,” he explains. The painstaking part is making the mixture entirely clear. The cakes are made in moulds and turned out onto the boards. There’s no gelatin in Sundravorakul’s version - simply water and agar, a jelly-like substance obtained from algae. “I experimented at home for about a year but we’ve been really focusing on the cake at Yamagoya for the past four months to try to get all the elements right.” “I’ve been playing around with the raindrop cake for a while,” says Sundravorakul. In New York they’ve become a hit at Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg market, while on Instagram you find not just the clear cakes served on leaf trays but jewel-coloured versions and even ones with fruit and flowers inside. New West End Company BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENTĬreated in Japan in 2014, the cakes have garnered a cult following there among young, fashionable foodies.
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