junko has done it again, this time in the form of decorated mushipan (steamed cup bread). she's probably most well known for her decorated roll cakes but she actually has a few other books on decorated desserts like puddings and cookies as well. i only saw this book recently at the store so i reckon this must be her latest. was actually not very keen on making mushipan again after the first attempt (it was really dry) but the cute decorations really wowed me. theres even one on alpaca. did you know alpacas are really big in japan? they've got plush toys, stationery and stuff. who would have thought?

i was really inspired by this roll cake i saw on a japanese blog recently. it was so pretty i wanted to do the same. i've always thought about making a roll cake like this and felt it would also look great to use it to line the sides of an entremet, like hidemi sugino's fruits rouges. it would look far better if i had just used this instead of a joconde piped with jam as it resulted in deep unsightly gashes after baking.

something to share for a start! my matcha madeleines entry was mentioned on huffington post! and a while back in spring, my sakura roll cake was mentioned on oprah's website. super elated and thankful for the mentions. and now, back to this :)


i think the japanese must be one of the most creative people around. sometime last year i bought two japanese books on patterned roll cakes by junko. while the french may have invented the joconde imprimé, the japanese often take existing creations to new heights. there are lotsa cute and pretty decorated roll cakes in there - strawberry, rilakkuma, pokemon and even koinobori patterned one to commemorate children's day in japan. i set my eyes on this one coz i really like how the pastel dots look on the cake, plus piping dots is not any more different than piping macaron batter, hence i think its safe for a first attempt.