Three Desserts: Pumpkin Pudding, Pumpkin Cake, Mocha Coffee Jelly – 三つのデザート：パンプキンプリン・パンプキンケーキ・カフェゼリーモカ

Just a quick roundup of some recent treats this time, beginning with the Yukijirushi Megumilk Pumpkin Pudding, pictured above.

This sees the light, fluffy steamed egg puddings get a Halloween makeover with the introduction of a pumpkin flavour and cute festive packaging.

These little 70g pots are almost like tiny souffles, the pudding is like a very wet, fluffy mousse and you can almost hear the faint popping sound of the air being released as it dissolves in your mouth.

I don’t like to use the word ‘eggy’ because it never sounds appetising, but it is certainly different from standard milk-based puddings. I’m not a big fan of mousse and it was a little too spongey for me. I also would have liked a bolder flavour.

According to the packaging these contain Hokkaido pumpkin so it’s possible that they’re not available outside of this my cold northern island home, but perhaps there are several versions that use vegetables grown in other regions. The tiny pots make perfect snacks or light desserts, don’t taste very sugary at all and only contain 96kcals each, so are a fairly guilt-free autumn treat~

6/10

Continuing with the pumpkin theme we have 7-eleven’s Pumpkin Cake:

As you can see, 7-eleven has also produced an attractively packaged seasonal sweet, adding charming spooky designs to the standard gold and clear plastic cake container.

The rich yellow is wonderfully vivid, although perhaps a shade or two paler than actual pumpkin flesh. The label proclaims ‘the natural sweetness of pumpkin’, but this has an undeniable sugariness to it – the delicate sugariness of icing sugar rather than the stronger sweetness of say granulated sugar.

The appearance being similar to Mont Blanc, I was expecting a similarly dense and rich texture to the yellow topping, but it seems to be a flavoured whipped cream rather than a heavy vegetable puree, so it has a very smooth and light consistency.

The internal structure mimics Mont Blanc quite closely: beneath the golden-yellow confection is a layer of fresh cream which surrounds a pureed pumpkin center, and these three creamy layers sit atop a small square of fluffy sponge cake. This was really delicious and just gorgeous to look at, without being as filling as its chestnut equivalent.

8/10

7-elven Pumpkin cake ￥232  223kcals

Straying now from the seasonal thread for the final product, which is Emial Mocha Coffee Jelly:

I’ve tried every Emial Cafe Jelly I’ve come across so far – Caramel, Milk Tea, Coffee – but as soon as I peeled back the lid of the new Mocha version I new it would be my favourite. A lovely rich coffee aroma infused with dark chocolate notes hit me at once and it had a lovely milky cocoa hue (which has been a little washed out in the photograph).

The chocolatey sauce is as silky and thick as double cream, yet without as much fat. There is a pleasantly bitter hint of espresso and unsweetened cocoa that counters the rich dairy elements perfectly. The jelly cubes are solid enough that you can slice through them with a spoon without them disintegrating into a mass of shapeless blobs. There is a mild coffee taste but the jelly acts primarily to provide a substantial texture to act as a base for the creamy sauce.

I really loved the tastes, scents and textures of this and felt that it had the best coffee flavour of all the cafe jelly range. Eating it with a fresh cup of hot coffee was a like a little luxury, so I’m going to go ahead and give it:

9/10

(!)

Emial Cafe Jelly Mocha  247kcal

7-eleven Matcha Anmitsu + cafe desserts – 抹茶あんみつ + カフェのデザート

So far I’ve only reviewed chocolate products so this time I thought I’d do some proper Japanese sweets, starting with anmitsu. Anmitsu is a cold dessert consisting of cubes of a gelatin-like substance called kanten in a thin brown or white sugar syrup (mitsu), topped with a paste of sweetened azuki beans (an) and often cream and a variety of fruits. In this version the kanten/syrup base is green tea flavour, and a lovely colour to match. This was only about 300 yen but it’s nicely presented in a sturdy plastic pot that has a little shelf to keep the cream and fruits separate from the syrupy mixture below, so everything is fresh. The appearance of the fruity topping is mouth-watering, the kanten is smooth and glossy and the syrup gives off a sweet yet earthy scent of matcha.

The topping contains slices of juicy mandarin, a cocktail cherry, plain and matcha sweetened whipped cream that melts in the mouth, chewy shiratama (glutinous rice balls), soft an and whole azuki beans, so there is a great variety of textures in play.
The kanten is slightly firmer than jelly so has a little resistance when you bite into it. The matcha taste is very subtle but the syrup has a stronger flavour, though it is sweet rather than herbal.

I’ve bought anmitsu at 7-11 several times now but I’ve never tried putting the fruits etc on top of the kanten, I like to keep it all separate so that the cream doesn’t dissolve into the syrup.

Thanks to the staple of Japanese life that is the conbini, you don’t need to go a cafe to treat yourself to a tasty dessert but if you’re looking for something more luxurious here are some similar sweets that I’ve had in Japan:

This anmitsu that I had at Hanakanro (花かんろ) near Mt. Hakodate has vanilla ice cream and multi-coloured kanten flavoured with various fruit juices such as lemon and strawberry. It’s so colourful and pretty that it seems a shame to eat but I somehow managed^^ It’s a very generous serving with lots of handmade shiratama so quite filling but also refreshingly fruity. If you ever happen to be in Hakodate I seriously recommend checking this place out because it’s in a picturesque area full of old-fashioned Japanese-style cafes and the atmosphere is peaceful and relaxing~

I had this drink at Nana’s Green Tea in Yokohama but it took me a long time to choose because everything on the menu looked insanely delicious – all kinds of iced lattes and ice creams. What I went for in the end is almost a liquid version of the matcha anmitsu: kanten cubes in a milky green tea crushed ice drink, with a sprinkling of azuki beans. My husband went for the richer version, with matcha ice cream and shiratama.

This ‘Mini shiratama parfait’, which you can eat at Rokkatei (六花亭) in Hakodate, doesn’t contain kanten but the other key elements of an, shiratama and cream are there, so if it turns out you love anmitsu but don’t care for kanten this would be ideal.
Rokkatei is mainly a sweet shop and the cafe is only a small, roped-off section, meaning there’s usually a waiting-list to get seated, but while you wait you can browse the selection of chocolates, biscuits, mochi and beautiful gift boxes on display.