6 of the most sought-after cult desserts in Tokyo – and how to get them

It’s been over three decades since the release of Studio Ghibli’s ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, but the obsession with all things Totoro rages on. Just like tickets to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, these ridiculously cute Totoro-shaped cream puffs from Shiro Hige’s Cream Puff Factory are constantly in hot demand.

Cream puffs are available at both the shop’s Daita and Kichijoji locations, but the ones at the Kichijoji shop are for takeaway only. Green leaf-topped Totoros (custard cream) and blue-hatted Totoros (chocolate cream) are available year round, while other flavours like chestnut cream, strawberry and matcha are seasonal.

All parfaits, by nature, are edible works of art, but the creations at Patisserie Asako Iwayanagi are especially stunning, making it difficult to demolish them without an initial tinge of guilt. The parfaits here (roughly ¥5,060) are seasonal and rarely appear on the menu for more than two weeks at a time, so the place is perpetually packed with parfait lovers who keep coming back to try new menu items.

Summertime parfaits include refreshing concoctions like baozhong tea gelato layered with peach sorbet and white wine granita to cool you down from the heat, while months like March will have the glasses piled high with strawberries to be drizzled with a sakura condensed milk sauce. Reservations are essential.

When he first started making cheesecakes for people to purchase online, Koji Tamura was still working as a full-time chef. His busy schedule meant that in order to fulfil demand, he had to wake up at 4am and bake up to 16 cheesecakes a day. Despite the limited availability, Tamura gained a steady following of cheesecake fanatics who would wait with bated breath for the delivery site to open every Sunday at 9am. 

Thankfully, Tamura has since acquired a full team of people (and a bigger kitchen) to produce more of his cheesecakes, but that hasn’t made them any less popular. While demand for Mr Cheesecake has resulted in collaborations like special edition 7-Eleven ice cream, it’s the real thing that people crave the most. An indulgent combination of cream cheese, sour cream, double cream and yoghurt are folded together and accented with tonka beans, white chocolate, vanilla and lemon. 

Should you be one of the lucky few to snag a cake, it will be delivered to you within five days – no, you can't choose the date and time of delivery. You can then eat it immediately or store it in the freezer for up to three months and save it for a special occasion. 

A dessert that looks more ornamental than edible, the Branché Chocolate cube is a collaboration between former Sugalabo chef Riku Yakushijin and branding company Marche Inc. As pretty as it looks, however, this head-turning ultra luxe dessert is more than just a decoration. It took Yakushijin over 50 attempts to perfect the recipe for the original matcha chocolate dessert, but when he finally found the right texture and flavour profile, the results were exquisite.

Now available in multiple flavours, these gold-leaf-topped cubes can be ordered online for a starting price of ¥4,298. Like Natsuko Shoji jewellery box cakes, the Branché Chocolate Cube comes in a smart black box that makes it perfect for gift-giving – but you know what? Who’s to say you can’t get one as a present to yourself? 

To the uninitiated, the chocolate gateau at Ken's Cafe Tokyo looks like any other chocolate cake. But the ingenious simplicity of this hot ticket item is part of what makes it so popular. In a time when many desserts are prettier to look at than they are to eat, this straightforward yet irresistibly rich gateau delivers everything that's expected of it and more.

Made with just four ingredients – butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate – the cake takes on different textures depending on the temperature it’s served at. Eat it at room temperature and it’s a rich gâteau. When chilled, it’s more like ganache, and when warmed, the centre liquifies like chocolate fondant that you can combine with a scoop of ice cream.

If you’ve seen the sort of price tags that come with punnets of fresh fruit in Japan, the cost of Été’s cakes topped with fresh fruit won’t come as a surprise. These artful boxed creations are the signature desserts of chef and patissiere Natsuko Shoji, who was featured in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2022 as Asia’s Best Female Chef.

Shoji’s ¥15,000 cakes attract an incredibly long waitlist and are almost as hard to secure as a seat at her restaurant, but keep your eyes on the reservation page and you might just win yourself one of her one-of-a-kind edible artworks.