6/26/2023 0 Comments Raindrop cake originThe Raindrop Cake is served topped with black sugar-cane syrup and with roasted soy flour on the side, which purportedly give it a nutty, molasses-like flavor. “It was … not available in the U.S.,” he said in an interview posted on the official Raindrop Cake website, “so I decided I would figure out how to make so others who were interested in it like myself can try it.”Īfter a fair amount of trial and error, Wong came up with the current recipe, which combines “natural spring water” and “just enough agar to hold its shape,” he recently said on the Today show, adding that eating Raindrop Cake is a true “textural experience” as well as one that is “visually appealing.” Wong, who is now selling the Raindrop Cake at Brooklyn’s trendy Smorgasburg open-air food markets and may expand to other venues, was inspired to create the gelatinous clear dessert blob by Japan’s traditional mizu shingen mochi, a food he had read about and was eager to try. If you have ever wondered how this dessert of Japanese origin is made, or have been curious as to its different variations, you have come to the right article.You know how, as a kid, you used to try to catch raindrops on your tongue as they fell from the sky? Now there’s a food that seeks to help you recapture that sensation: the Raindrop Cake, which was created by New York chef Darren Wong and is taking the Internet by storm (only partly because it looks sort of like a giant silicone breast implant). Raindrop Cake | Japanese Mizu Shingen Mochi.We’ll even show you different ways to level up this classic recipe! Jump to: We will also be sharing a traditional Japanese raindrop cake recipe that you can easily recreate at home. The earliest form of this delicacy is a Japanese mochi called Shingen mochi. Traditionally, these are popular rice cakes from Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture that are made from glutinous rice flour and sugar. It has a soft texture and chewy consistency. They were originally made as a type of emergency food by Shingen Takeda, a Sengoku Daimyo. This became a festive food to eat during Obon in Japan.Īs time passed, locals in Hakushu-cho, Hokuto City decided to incorporate the region's fresh spring water into this dessert. The current version that we know can be considered an evolution from its traditional form. Sakura Mizu Shingen Mochi | Image from Instagram It is now a transparent and crystal-looking sphere and is made with agar-agar instead of glutinous rice flour. It is also more commonly known as mizu shingen mochi, which literally means water cake. We will use these names interchangeably in this article. What has stayed the same are the typical toppings served with this dessert, which are a sprinkling of kinako powder and a drizzle of kuromitsu. What does Raindrop Cake taste like?īy itself, raindrop cake does not have any flavour. However, the toppings (or the fillings) are what give it its flavour. If you’ve ever played out in the rain when you were kids, you’ve probably also tried eating raindrops. It is light, refreshing, and melts in your mouth! How many calories does it contain? Or what that was just us? This fun dessert will take you back to childhood and make you feel like you’re eating raindrops. You might be surprised to hear that simply speaking, raindrop cake itself contains almost zero calories! Its calories come from the toppings or fillings, which we will get into in the later sections of this post. The dessert shop in Japan credited for introducing mizu shingen mochi substituted glutinous rice flour with agar-agar, making it healthier and lower-calorie. As it is light and refreshing, it makes for a perfect summer dessert, which is also when it is available. There are only two ingredients needed for the water cake - water and agar-agar. If you live in Japan and have access to water from the Akaishi Mountains (otherwise known as the Southern Alps of Japan), that’s perfect! That is exactly the water used by the dessert shop. What’s special about this water is its naturally slightly sweet taste, which can be tasted in the Japanese raindrop cake. Since not all of us can easily buy water from those mountains, the next best thing to use is mineral water. It will result in a crystal-clear water cake. Filtered water can also be used but might result in a cloudy-looking cake. Agar-agarĪgar-agar (or simply, agar) is fibre that’s derived from seaweed, specifically red algae. It is a healthier and vegetarian alternative to gelatin, which is from animal sources.Īgar comes in different forms - powder, bar, strips, among others. In Asia, it is widely used to make various desserts such as puddings or custards.
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