Rice flour, azuki beans, sweet potatoes, as well as sesame, soy, and vegetable seaweed jelly: the ingredients of the Japanese pastry represent the ideal setting to enhance a high-quality handcrafted product. The colorful, glossy appearance does not deceive about the contents! Few sugars and fat are included in a largely hand-processed preparation that pleases the eyes and palate without sacrificing lightness, freshness and flavor.
With two stores in Rome and Milan, and a totally dedicated corner at Carrefour Gourmet XXI Aprile in Rome, the Japanese Hiromi Cake has officially sanctioned that the Italian palate appreciates the taste, lightness and grace of these small Japanese sweets.
Growing up in Osaka, traditionally considered the home of the cuisine of Japan, the pastry chef of Hiromi Cake, Machiko, as a child she lived in a neighborhood that housed a tiny PASTRY in front of which she stopped every day. There, the elderly owner named Hiromi, with a big smile would give her a treat every time she saw her coming. So Machiko wanted to relive that childhood memory of that sweet and kind gesture with this project, first in Rome then in Milan. With its turquoise walls, the Japanese pastry Hiromi Cake, is a treasure chest of Zen energy in the busy metropolitan neighborhoods of Rome and Milan. In a setting inspired by the typical izakaya, the name for the sake store where people usually consume while sitting, one breathes in precision, lightness and beauty.
Hiromi Cake's varied offerings, between tradition and innovation
The offer of the first Japanese bakery Italian is somewhere between the classic wagashi, typical Japanese sweets, and the yogashi, revisited desserts of French or American inspiration. Among the typical offerings of Japanese cuisine, one cannot miss the typical sweet balls of the Japanese confectionery: i Mochi, sweets made of rice boiled and shaped into patties enriched with the fanciest toppings, from ice cream to fruit jams. Mochi are a real treat, although they should be enjoyed in small bites and chewed for a long time because of their distinctive texture. Also unmissable are the classic Dorayaki, a kind of fluffy pancakes that enclose a red bean filling. For those who just can't give up chocolate, the cuisine of this Japanese pastry offers a very delicate Kurò, a soft and fluffy dark chocolate mousse. Also featured are Fuji san, a dessert meant to be a kind of reimagining of the more famous French Montblanc, which translates into a cupcake filled with azuki, white beans and matcha.
As we have anticipated, yogashi, on the other hand, are all those Western-inspired desserts that are, however, revisited with touches and Japanese pastry ingredients. These desserts began to appear in the early twentieth century and, today, have now become the heritage of the best gastronomy. Thus, in some, the classic ingredients we are more accustomed to, such as butter, milk or chocolate, are present; in others, however, these are substituted for more Japanese ones, such as red azuki beans, yuzu, sesame, matcha tea, rice flour, sweet potatoes, the soybean. Thus, for example, we find meringues with yuzu, tiramisu with green tea, chocolate mousse with ginger and hazelnuts, cheesecake with mango or with matcha, sacher with red azuki or, again, crepes with azuki jam, and so on.
During the Christmas season, however, it was the turn of the Milanese dessert to embrace traditional Japanese pastry with a panettone with as many as 36 hours of sourdough with the taste of matcha tea, apricot and yuzu. Given its success, it was then also offered in three other versions: with candied ginger and gianduja chocolate, with orange raisins and chestnut, and finally with azuki beans and milk chocolate. Among the proposals of the Japanese pastry Hiromi Cake, delicious Okinawa cookies stand out to the eye, garnished with chocolate and coconut crisp, coconut and lime mousse, mango gelèe heart or passion fruit with dark chocolate creamy. Alongside stand out the Sakura, sweets made of fluffy almond mousse with a cherry heart, enriched with a black cherry compote and whose colors, white and pink, are reminiscent of cherry blossoms.
There is no shortage of the Japanese version of Tiramisu, inspired by our traditional dessert, but with Japanese-style sponge cake and caramel. At Hiromi Cake they also invent their own personal cakes from the bakery's namesake: the Hiromi Cakes are colorful single-portions with attention to detail; tarts filled with white chocolate, white and red beans, soufflés on an apple and chocolate shortbread base, tofu and blueberry mousse, thousand matcha crepes, all decorated to perfection.
Italian Food Academy's Ice Cream Sushi Specialization Course.
Not only in flavors, sometimes the meeting in the kitchen between the West and the Rising Sun happens even in appearance alone. To look at them, they look just like classic Nigiri, Hosomaki, Uramaki and what have you: sushi ice cream is a fresh and sweet take on the traditional Japanese dish. Salmon and tuna are replaced by strawberry and raspberry ice cream, while seaweed is recreated with a layer of dark chocolate and fish eggs with poppy seeds.
Among the proposals of Italian Food Academy, the Ice Cream Sushi Specialization Course is an extraordinary opportunity to perfect and distinguish oneself in a profession that in Italy knows no crisis and is heading towards new forms of expression and taste. Through training that prepares participants in the proper use of the tools suitable for the production of ice cream, IFA's Ice Cream Sushi Specialization Course proves to be a highly innovative opportunity. At the end of the course, each participant will be issued a Level 3 HACCP Certificate as well as a certificate of attendance.
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