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Starbucks has been counting down the days until Christmas for well over a month now in Japan, with Frappuccinos dedicated to German Christmas markets and the New York holidays.
Now as we enter December, things are getting extra festive in the sweets cabinet, but there’s a little known product also available at this time of year — Starbucks Christmas Cakes.
The reason for their elusiveness is they’re only available online, so you won’t find any big flashy ads or posters for them in stores. And because traditional Christmas cakes in Japan are strawberry shortcakes, which conveniently display the lucky colors of red and white, that’s what the star offering is in this lineup, with a bit of a unique Starbucks twist added in for extra fun.
The Holiday Cheesecake (top photo) looks like a strawberry shortcake up top, but comes with a cheesecake base.
In keeping with the chain’s festive theme of “World Holiday Markets“, designed to take our taste buds on a journey overseas without leaving the country, the first Christmas cake in the range is a New York cheesecake. Baked slowly at a low temperature, the texture and flavor in this one is said to be exquisite, with the rich, melt-in-your-mouth cheesecake contrasting beautifully with the crispy base and refreshing berries.
▼ The second Christmas offering in the range takes us to Germany, where our taste buds are invited to take a walk in the Black Forest.
The “Black Forest” is a real forest in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, and it’s the setting for many Grimms’ Fairy Tales. This cake is just as dark, but a little different to a traditional black forest cake, as it has three layers of chocolate-flavored sponge interspersed with bitter ganache cream and a sweet-and-sour cherry sauce.
Whereas the Holiday Cheesecake is said to look like white snow, this one is said to resemble black snow, with its roughly textured chocolate coating.
Other holiday treats to keep an eye out for, and these ones are available both online and in store, are the Gingerbread Cookies (2,160 yen)...
▼ …and the Stollen, which is also priced at 2,160 yen.
The Starbucks Christmas cakes cost 4,320 yen each, which might seem a little pricey, but it’s actually pretty standard pricing for festive cakes in Japan. And if they taste as good as the white and dark Christmas Frappuccinos, they’ll be sure to please all the diehard Starbucks fans this Christmas!
Source: Starbucks Japan
Read more stories from grape Japan.
-- We try the new Christmas Frappuccino from Starbucks Japan
-- Christmas arrives at Starbucks in Japan with new festive Frappuccino and drinkware
-- Starbucks unveils new festive Christmas Frappuccinos and drinkware for 2021
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2021/12/02/starbucks-unveils-a-range-of-secret-christmas-cakes-in-japan/
15 Comments
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Tora
SB is not about coffee in Japan. I wonder why they don't publish nutritional information for their products like other major fast food joints?
That was a rhetorical question.
snowymountainhell
‘Tis the season…’ - Great for a teen girl’s Insta-gram but when you walk in a ‘see the size for the price’, you’ll turn on your heels and head to the local kombini, supermarket or favorite bakery.
snowymountainhell
Starbucks has been accused of appropriating from many cultures around the world but wouldn’t go so far as to say this recipe was ‘Stollen’ ; )
snowymountainhell
Do you make it year-round @zichi 4pm or, just during the ‘holiday’ (dare I say “*Christmas****”) season ?
(**No personal offense intended @zichi** but some have made it clear in these threads that they find the word “Christmas” *as “offensive”.)
Moderator
Readers, please stay on topic.
bass4funk
Stollen, yuck!
snowymountainhell
Do you make it year-round *@zichi 4:00pm ***or, just during the ‘hoilday*’ season ?**
snowymountainhell
Well then, @zichi 7:51pm You avoided the whole, “offensive-Christmas” controversy with the original German names “Weinachtsstollen” (it means “Christmas”) or “Christstollen” (it means “Christ”) by waiting til the New Year.
Starbucks doesn’t need controversy either. They played it safe by also calling it just “Stollen”.
GBR48
That looks like a rather expensive way to inject sugar into your kids.
A traditional British Christmas cake is made well in advance and dosed up with alcohol - usually at the expense of any inherent cake-iness or flavour. You can make one closer to Christmas though.
There are plenty of recipes on the net, but for a lighter, tastier cake, keep the alcohol very low, lose the candied peel and currants (few people actually like candied peel and currants are no better than rabbit poop). Also exclude any funky extras that celebrity chefs add as 'signatures' - prunes, figs, glace cherries (who thought them up?), pineapple, plums and whole nuts, and reduce the amount of raisins and sultanas so there is actually some cake between them.
A little treacle, darker sugar and the cinnamon will give you a traditional Christmas cake scent, taste and flavour, whilst allowing you to actually enjoy it. You don't need marzipan either - poll guests to see if they like it.
If you are making a traditional Christmas pud, remember to leave the sixpence out if any of your guests are lawyers.
Don't feel pressured to do the traditional thing. Ask guests what they'd like, what their food allergies are (esp. nuts), and if they have specific dietary issues. Most family gatherings are quite traumatic, so some nice food would help. You can also switch to alcohol-free booze after a couple of glasses to reduce the chance of violence and long term family divisions.
Say 'Happy Holidays' in the UK, and folk will just make fun of you. To be fair, Americans were all saying that way before the woke activists kicked off. I'm an atheist (and Santathiest) and still wish everyone 'Happy Christmas'.
snowymountainhell
Sounds good @GBR48 5:36am. Wish Starbucks had brought back their version of Alec Baldwin’s famous "Schweddy Balls" on a stick, mixing rum with fudge. Ben & Jerry’s even had a version of it in their ice cream:
Mark
At some point and it has not come yet, but Starbucks will wake up someday and sing this song,
What I've done
I'll face myself to cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let go of what I've done
LOL
starpunk
It all looks good but you can get them cheaper at grocery stores.
coskuri
It has no relation with the original.