Japanese Food Tips

Mont Blanc cakes are usually found in Japanese cake shops. It seems that they were first made in Italy many centuries ago and developed later in France and brought to Japan in the 1930s. The original cake produced was a sponge cake on the bottom with a swirl of spaghetti-like yellow cream (made from chestnuts or sweet potatoes) on the top, which was topped off with a chestnut. The cake became widespread throughout Japan and is now one of the most classic cakes. Recently, a more popular cream color is brown, which also originated in Europe. To make the yellow cream, the astringent skin is peeled off the chestnuts. The chestnuts are first boiled with gardenia pigment, and then are boiled again with sugar. To make the brown cream, the astringent skin is not peeled off and the chestnuts are boiled with sugar only. Why is it called Mont Blanc? It seems that it was made to resemble the shape of Mont Blanc in the Alps. More recently, there are other shapes, such as round cakes and roll cakes which have nothing to do with the shape of the mountain. If you like sweets and come to Japan, why don't you try Mont Blanc cake?