JJ Bakery Strawberry Shortcake Mochi: From the Taiwanese sweets shop JJ Bakery in LA, this plump ball of strawberry shortbread is about twice the size of a normal piece of mochi and contains a whole strawberry nested in rich cream and moist cake. The mochi skin is impressively thin and elastic, and as a result, plays a supporting role to the western cake on the inside. Ripe, deep red strawberry is sweet and fresh. Cream is not for the faint of heart (there's a lot of it), so this snack may be best shared among friends. (I at... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended losangeles cake jjbakery strawberry shortcake mochi 3.5
Eileen’s Special Cheesecake Pumpkin cheesecake: Humble but well executed pumpkin cheesecake from longstanding pastry store Eileen’s Special Cheesecake. Over a dozen cheesecake flavors are available, in snack-size portions. The cheesecake tastes homemade: neither light nor dense, with just the right level of sweetness. Reminiscent of canned pumpkin used in for Thanksgiving dessert. 3.5/5.0
recommended cake dessert eileensspecialcheesecake pumpkin cheesecake 3.5
Chicha Matcha Crepe Cake: After a long day, I decided to treat myself with dessert at this Montreal-based Taiwanese cafe that serves savory entrées, desserts, and beverages. They have a variety of flavored crepe cakes, but I went for the matcha, which was about $6 a slice - pretty pricy. I did enjoy it, though - it had many layers of eggy crepe, and the creme was not overly rich. The matcha powder was quite bitter, and the dessert overall was not very sweet. The best part was definitely the mix of chewy crepe and ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended montreal dessert chicha matcha crepe cake 3.5
酷覓星 Bubble Milk Tea Cake: While I purchased this product in Tokyo, these bubble tea cakes are from the original land of bubble tea: Taiwan. The snack, which cost a little over $5, comes in nice packaging, containing a slide-out tray that's a nice display if you're entertaining or sharing with friends. The cakes are individually wrapped and are disappointingly small, no bigger than 2" in their longest dimension. They are most definitely smaller than most pineapple cakes, which are the most similar type of snack i... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended seijoishi bubbletea bubble milk tea cake 3.5 taiwanese
Kam Hing Pandan Sponge Cake: Kam Hing offers ~half a dozen flavors of sponge cakes, and after working out of NYC for a couple weeks, I've sampled a good number of them including pandan, original, brown sugar tea, ube, coconut, and black sesame (to be fair, I also brought back a bunch of them to share with my parents at home). The first one I purchased was pandan, a spiky tropical fruit that looks like a cross between a pineapple and durian but has a milder flavor that belies its spiky exterior. Overall, it has a pleas... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended chinatown nyc kamhing pandan sponge cake 3.5