People are going nuts on social media over this “cake” that recently came on the scene at Smorgasburg. It’s a Japanese dessert known as mizu shingen mochi, and Darren Wong, who brought the dessert to New York, is calling his version the Raindrop Cake.
This cake has been covered by at least five major news outlets. Huffington Post wondered if it would be the next cronut, and it seems to be heading in that direction. But the reason why is baffling. It’s no mystery what’s in the “cake” because every article tells you: it’s just water and agar, a vegan gelatin. The powdery stuff is soy flour and the dark liquid is brown sugar syrup.
So, you’re basically eating flavorless Jell-o, flour and sugar. This is the Donald Trump of desserts—it gets way too much media attention without providing anything of substance. At least cronuts are actually tasty.
The Raindrop Cake is all hype. It sure looks cool—you could probably put it on a newspaper and use it as a magnifying glass, but who reads newspapers anymore?
Bottom line: the Raindrop Cake is not worth the prices they’re charging at Smorgasburg for it, and it’s not even worth the time and effort required to eat it. You may be tempted to try it just to see what all the hype is about, but you’ll probably take one bite and realize that it has no flavor (what did you expect?) and then chuck it in the garbage.
Spend your money on something more substantive that actually tastes good.
Featured photo: Mental Floss