Japanese Maple

Autumn Mountain

/ Mutsumi / 6 Comments

We are in the middle of Autumn – Winter transition now. It is getting very cold lately but this chilling weather is the key to the magnificent sights of nature during this season. When the temperature drops the colour of leaves change from green to yellow or it goes even further to orange and then red. It is due to the chemical reaction in leaves. This is called Autumn Colour and can be seen on the leaves of deciduous plants.

‘Autumn Mountain’ Mochi

So, as one of the sweets for November I wanted to create a sweet in Autumn Colour. I want you to imagine all the mountain changing the colour from its deep green to various colour of yellow, orange and red but in a very tiny scale.

Autumn Mountain 1-2R Continue reading →

Advertisement

Autumn Sweet Gift Box

/ Mutsumi / 4 Comments

Just before Halloween I received an order for a gift box of Japanese Sweets. I was told that the gift was for a family with Japanese and also some non-Japanese people so that the client wanted me to make variety of sweets that could be enjoyed by everybody. I thought a lot to decide which sweets were most suitable and seasonal for this occasion.

These are the finalists for “Autumn Sweet Box Set”.

autumn-sweet-gift-in-box

The selected sweets for this occasion in the photo (↑) from right to left

  1. Matcha Ukishima Cake with Sweet Chestnut (Free from Gluten, Oil & Dairy)
  2. Halloween Jack-O’-Lantern (Free from Gluten, Egg, Oil & Dairy)
  3. Mochi Sweet Chestnut (Free from Gluten, Egg, Oil & Dairy)
  4. Japanese Maple (Free from Gluten, Egg, Dairy)
  5. Plaine Castella (Free from Oil & Dairy)

In case you cannot get a good view of them from the top these are the side shots of them which are much closer.

autumn-sweet-left

Continue reading →

‘Manju’ in Autumn Theme

/ Mutsumi / 20 Comments

manjyu1

One of the things I was looking forward to when I went back to Japan was of course ‘Manju (まんじゅう)’ the Japanese sweet. I can make some by myself but I just wanted to try some very good ones that I cannot find in London.

manjyu3

As I mentioned previously in “the Taste of Autumn” we are sensitive to changing seasons in Japan and ‘Wagashi (和菓子)’ the Japanese sweet is no exception. At the very beginning of Autumn the colour/pattern/ingredients of Japanese sweets have been already changed into Autumn theme.

Continue reading →