Live from Japan!

This past Wednesday was a friends’ birthday. Angus, from Canada, is a new JET living in Ogaki. He was so kind as to invite us, and others, over to his place for a little celebration.

I didn’t want to show up to his 23rd birthday party empty-handed, so Aaron and I spent some time brainstorming what to bring. After awhile, we came up with the idea to make a cake to bring along.

When we came up with this idea I was fully aware that this was going to be quite an undertaking. After all, the Japanese do not make baked goods nearly as often as Americans and, therefore, access is limited for baking related items.

First of all, there are not ovens as Americans would think of them. In our kitchen, in terms of appliances, we have a two burner range, rice cooker, toaster oven and microwave oven. I must emphasize the oven part of this appliance because it truly does have an oven function. You can preheat it to the temperature you need and bake items as necessary. So long as they fit into the relatively small space.

Our predecessors had also left behind a small baking sheet in which I would be able to cook said cake.

All that was needed was the ingredients. Fortunately, we had found a JET cookbook, a compilation of recipes that JETs put together while they were in Japan. We knew that the recipes in that cookbook should have ingredients that are easily found in most Japanese supermarkets. We settled on a recipe and went to the Valor to procure the necessary items.

At the Valor, Aaron and I and my favorite Japanese food dictionary, sat in the baking needs aisle for about 45 minutes. We had to struggle to find all the ingredients we needed, there weren’t even that many. Most labels were written in katakana, bakingu pawada (baking powder) and koko pawada (cocoa powder), and were easy to sound out. Others were in kanji. We were able to look up in the dictionary the kanji for flour, for example, and search through the shelf to find a package with the same kanji. We never actually found one that matched exactly, but it ended up being close enough.

Not only is the baking section of the grocery store quite small, it is also one of the most expensive areas (save the produce aisle) in the entire place.

1 lb bag of flour – 698 yen (about $7)
Baking powder (about 1/4 the size of an american can) – 398 yen
Cocoa powder (enough for one cake) – 498 yen
Candles – 298 yen
Butter – 350 yen
Sugar – I already had
Vanilla – I already had
Eggs – I already had a few

So, altogether, the cake cost about 2242 yen, or about $22. Granted, I can use some of the ingredients again, but still, that’s a pretty hefty price tag.

Once we had the ingredients, we made our way home. Aaron sat on the couch and continued reading Harry Potter aloud, while I made the cake. All went well until it came time to bake it. I put the pan in the microwave oven and set the time for 18 minutes, as recommended by the recipe. At 18 minutes I took it out and set it to cool.

As it cooled, I noticed that one half of the cake was slightly burnt, and the other half was slightly gooey. Apparently our microwave oven does not heat as evenly as I would like, next time I will rotate the cake half-way through. Despite the unevenness, Aaron convinced me that it would be fine. I sprinkled a little powdered sugar on it to cover up the defect and we went on our way.

Even with the hefty price tag and trouble, I am glad we made the effort. It turned out to be the only cake at the birthday party and it was much appreciated by the birthday boy. Happy Birthday Angus!