Baumkuchen, the German layer cake, is extremely popular in Japan, where you’ll find it in its traditional ring-shaped form, as log-shaped wedges and even in bite-size pieces. The ones at Katanukiya stand out from the crowd, though – they’re shaped into adorable little animals and characters.
Each cake has multiple layers of buttery milk-flavoured cake with a thin layer of icing on the top. The original version (¥540) is in the shape of a simple black-and-white panda, but the Tokyo Solamachi store has an exclusive version of the panda cake with a yellow star on it (¥594) that’s almost too cute to eat.
The store is also stocked with panda biscuits and ginger drinks by Ginza Ginger for takeout.