Marukyo Black Sesame Funwariyaki Dorayaki: Dorayaki is a delicious filled pancake dessert from Japan that has no equivalent in American pastry (as far as I know). The closest likeness I can think of is the Whoopie Pie, though dorayaki has a bean paste filling rather than cream, and the ratio of cake to filling is slimmer. Berkeley Bowl sells an assortment of refrigerated cakes in their Asian grocery aisle, though I have normally been wary of these silica-packet-filled packaged snacks. I was intrigued, though, by this black sesame flavored dorayaki and was pleasantly surprised by its overall quality. The cake was moist and almost savory, with a toasted sesame flavor that was prominent but not overwhelmingly so. The sweetness comes predominantly from the more standard red bean filling, which was not bad but just ok. I'm glad I purchased it and am happy to know that decent dorayaki is so readily available, though it was a bit pricy at almost $6 for a bag of 5 pieces. 3.5/5.0

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