Japanese Water Cake Comes To Smorgasburg

This weekend marks the return of Smorgasburg's outdoor markets and the debut of a unique Japanese dessert available for the first time in New York: Mizu shingen mochi, or Japanese "water cake."

Darren Wong is the advertising professional behind Raindrop Cake, and will be serving up as many portions of the delicate cake as he can, estimating about 1,000 servings, reports Grub Street.

The Raindrop Cake is inspired by traditional mizu shingen mochi, which was first made by the Kinseiken Seika Company. The jelly cake is made from water gathered from the southern Japanese Alps, and is stabilized by an unnamed substance to hold its shape. Wong uses agar as the stabilizer for his Raindrop Cakes. It is served with kinako, a heavily roasted soybean powder, and kuromitso, or brown sugar syrup.

On the dessert, Wong tells Grub Street, "It's not about flavor or nutrients; it's about the texture." It is described as a "light, delicate, and refreshing raindrop made for your mouth" on the Raindrop Cake website.

Just like a raindrop, the cakes themselves are extremely difficult to store and transport. Wong notes that each cake must be individually packaged in such a way to protect it from movement and temperature.

Raindrop Cake will be at both the Williamsburg market on Saturdays and the Prospect Park market on Sundays.