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Pokémon cakes appear in Japan, but there’s something odd about the collection

Oona McGee May 2, 2023
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Can you spot what’s peculiar in this first-ever collaboration?

“A wild Pikachu appeared”.

It’s a phrase that quickens the pulse of every Pokémon trainer in excitement, so you can imagine the thrill when Japanese confectionery chain Ginza Cozy Corner announced the electric Pokémon would be appearing in their corner of the world…in cake form.

And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s not just Pikachu that’s appearing — eight others will be joining the yellow Pokémon for a limited time, and you can catch ’em all in a specially marked box for 2,916 yen (US$22.01).

▼ The Pokémon Collection

Demand for this limited-time release into the wild is so high that customers are advised to reserve a box before visiting the store to avoid missing out.

▼ We secured our collection by making a prior reservation at our local branch of Ginza Cozy Corner.

Racing home to lift the lid on the box, we were thrilled to meet the nine Pokémon in the palm-sized confectionery collection, with each one looking as adorable and mouthwatering as the next. Let’s take a look at each of them in more detail below!

▼ Piplup is represented by a soda-flavoured mousse cake inspired by the Bubble Beam move.

▼ Eevee looks resplendant as a chocolate and caramel tart.

▼ Psyduck brings its signature question mark to a lemon tea whipped cream cake.

▼ Ditto looks adorable as a blueberry whipped cream tart.

▼ Charizard gets a mango cream cake topped with whipped cream styled to look like the Flamethrower move.

▼ Bulbasaur appears as a yoghurt-flavoured whipped cream roll cake, with muscat jelly pieces replicating the pattern on its body.

▼ Gengar challenges us to dip our tongues into a mysterious-looking peach-and-grape jelly.

▼ Jigglypuff lives up to its Japanese name, “Purin” (“Pudding”), in the guise of a strawberry pudding-flavoured whipped cream tart with strawberry jam

They were all absolutely beautiful to look at, but after taking a moment to admire their beauty, we couldn’t help but feel as if something was missing.

▼ Their faces!

Ditto had its face, but some of the others looked like they were missing their eyes and mouths. This was an injustice we had to remedy, so we took action by whipping out a chocolate pen.

Just by adding some simple eyes and a mouth, we were able to level up their cuteness considerably. After stepping back to admire our newfound friends, we couldn’t help but think this might be a fun activity for parents to try with their children, especially those who might be questioning why Eevee, Jigglypuff and Pikachu were missing their faces.

On second thoughts, perhaps some of them were better off without their faces! Pikachu’s face has a track record of being difficult — and even downright scary — to replicate in sweet form, so we weren’t all that surprised when ours turned out to be a little disappointing.

Still, beauty is only skin-deep, as they say, so we decided to delve a little further into Pikachu to see what it was made of.

Beneath the whipped cream topping we discovered a moist banana-flavoured sponge with a chocolate ganache sandwiched inside. This gave it a fantastic chocolate-banana taste, and there was even popping candy in the mix, which exploded on the tongue like a Thunderbolt.

The crackle was a perfect fit for Pikachu’s electric nature, and after trying all nine of the Pokémon in this collection, we were surprised to find that they too were well designed to match their characters.

It was a fun and fantastic collection of flavours, but there was just one thing we couldn’t ignore…

▼ …what was Piplup doing rubbing shoulders with the first generation?

Oh well — aside from this anomaly, and the fact that some of the Pokémon seemed to be crying out for faces, we have nothing but good things to say about this petit cake collection.

Not only do they look and taste fantastic, they’re perfectly sized, allowing you to eat ’em all without feeling guilty. Well, without feeling too guilty, because they’re freakin’ adorable.

They’re only around for a limited time, though, until 31 May, so be sure to reserve yours before they sell out, either in-store at branches that sell fresh cakes, or online by 26 May. And don’t forget to get your free field guide too!

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[ Read in Japanese ]