You’re not ready for this, we’re not ready for it - honestly - it looks like something from the future when in fact it’s actually dessert known as Water Cake. With people queueing to get their hands on one it’s basically Japan’s own cronut. It’s referred to as Mizu Shingen Mochi and if it’s not eaten with half an hour it actually disappears leaving a small puddle of water.
What is Water Cake?
Water cake is available at two Kinseiken shops in the Yamanashi Prefecture which seem to have helped make the dessert famous - it’s not really fair to call it a cake as it’s more of a jelly usually formed with kanten - a natural gelling agent that’s made from tengusa - a red seaweed. Kanten is a lot like agar as they’re both made from seaweed but kanten has a softer texture and mouthfeel than agar. The other ingredients for the water cake are super simple with just water and sugar needed to form the balls. It’s then served with different condiments like a sugar syrup or kinako - roasted soybean flour.
The dessert looks like it landed from the future and for anyone who wants to have a go at making their own at home - here’s a video recipe.
Ingredients
Water
Granulated Sugar
Agar
Brown Sugar Syrup (kokumitsu)
Soybean Flour (kinako)
Method
1. Put 12g granulated sugar and 15g agar in a pot, and mix.
2. Add 500cc water, little by little, and mix. Repeat it. This is important because agar does not melt easily.
3. Melt agar completely in boiling water.
4. Pour it into the sphere mould.
5. Chill it in a refrigerator.
6. Take out from the mould after hardening and place on brown sugar syrup and soybean flour.
7. Please eat while feeling the Force.
